Faith Kipyegon to make audacious sub-four-minute mile attempt

Kenyan has teamed up with Nike to create a “Breaking4” bid to become the first woman to crack the barrier

Seventy-one years after Roger Bannister ran the world’s first sub-four-minute mile and Diane Leather became the first woman to break five minutes for the distance, Faith Kipyegon will attack the four-minute barrier in Paris in June.

The ambitious attempt will take place during a special event titled “Breaking4: Faith Kipyegon vs the 4-Minute Mile” at the Stade Charléty in Paris on June 26, although similar to Eliud Kipchoge’s INEOS 1:59 Challenge in the marathon in Vienna in 2019 there will be a small window of a couple of days in order to pick a good weather window.

It is not clear yet whether the attempt will be eligible for a bona fide record or whether Kipyegon will have advantages such as male pacemakers. The women’s world record currently stands at 4:07.64, which was set by Kipyegon in Monaco in 2023.

“I want this attempt to say to women, ‘You can dream and make your dreams valid,’” said Kipyegon. “This is the way to go as women, to push boundaries and dream big.

“I’m a three-time Olympic champion. I’ve achieved World Championship titles. I thought, What else? Why not dream outside the box?” says Kipyegon, a Kenya native and mother to a young daughter. “And I told myself, ‘If you believe in yourself, and your team believes in you, you can do it.’”

Nike says: “How do you make the impossible possible? You start by calling your moonshot. And as moonshots go, Faith Kipyegon’s is as audacious as they come. The longtime Nike athlete, already the world record holder in the mile, will attempt to become the first woman to break the 4-minute threshold in the distance, harnessing the full power of Nike to help make it happen.

“In the process, she’ll push the limits of sport beyond what’s long believed to be achievable, setting the stage for future generations to dream big.”

Roger Bannister and Diane Leather in 2014 (Mark Shearman)

“Faith is a once-in-a-generation talent, and her audacious goal is exactly what Nike stands for,” says Elliott Hill, Nike president and CEO. “Breaking4 is the kind of bold dream we will do everything in our power to make real — helping both elite and everyday athletes to believe anything is possible. No other brand can offer the level of expertise, innovation and support that our Nike teams can. Alongside Faith, our innovators are breaking barriers by…