Summary
As temperatures rose in Budapest, meet officials moved the heats from Tuesday morning to Wednesday evening. Still, with the heats being conducted in the heat of 31°C (88°F) temperatures, the elite athletes had little interest in running a hard race except World U20 double Champion Agate Caune. In the first heat, the 19 year old captured the crowd by taking the pace out. After getting jostled in a tight slow moving pack for the first 200 metres, she stepped to the side and around the pack. Quickly, she separated from the pack, clicking off 70 second laps, while the peloton was doing more relaxed 73s. By the ninth lap, she had a 23 second, about 150 metre, advantage. Slowly the peloton began to reel in the rebellious teenager as the strain began to show on her face. 600 metres from the finish, 10,000 metre gold medalist Gudaf Tsegay started an extended kick for home. Returning silver medalist Beatrice Chebet and 2019 silver medalist Margaret Kipkemboi followed her and the pack stretched out, the gap to Caune was shrinking. She eventually was caught but kept her wits about her. Caune continued on to finish in fourth place qualifying her for the finals with a new personal best. In the second heat, they ran about 25 seconds faster, with the two favorites; new world record holder Faith Kipyegon and triple threat Olympic Champion Sifan Hassan sprinting it out to satisfy their competitive juices. Hassan won the heat by .02 seconds.
With all the drama just to qualify for the final, could the final live up? Even before the start, Caune did not appear due to a pelvic injury. With new rules in place, she was replaced at the last minute by the #17 qualifier Francine Niyomukunzi. The race started off with Tsegay moving out to a 65-second first lap opening up a gap. Then she backed off the accelerator, letting Ejgayehu Taye take the pace down to 75. Then she sped up to a 70 as both the Ethiopian and Kenyan teams dominated the front, then slowed down to 77. Kipyegon came forward to guide the pace to the slower speeds. Lilian Kasait Rengeruk took a couple of laps until Tsegay moved up to the 71 and a couple of 70-second laps. Through all these maneuvers, 14 women were still in contact with the lead, waiting. With a lap and a half to home, it was racing time. Kipyegon hit the front. Hassan moved up from mid-pack to Kipyegon's shoulder. The pace was quickening but only a few were dropping off the back. From 300 to 200 to go, they sped into a controlled sprint. Tsegay couldn't keep up. A gap appeared with Kipyegon, Hassan, and Chebet as the likely medalists. All three sprinted for home but the order and spacing didn't change. 13 women finished in less than 7 and a half seconds. Kipyegon got her double. After falling in the 10,000 finish, Hassan is leaving with medals in her other two events, anticipating running the Chicago Marathon in just 6 weeks.
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