British record falls in stunning run for second place while Kenyan defends her Olympic crown in style as Hassan’s treble bid is thwarted

It might not have been the gold medal-winning feats of Sebastian Coe or Kelly Holmes but Laura Muir produced one of the greatest performances in British 1500m history as she smashed her UK record and finished a brilliant second behind an unbeatable Faith Kipyegon in Tokyo as the treble-chasing Sifan Hassan had to settle for bronze.

Defending champion Kipyegon won in a time of 3:53.11 to erase Paula Ivan’s Olympic record 0f 3:53.96 set in Seoul in 1988, while Muir clocked 3:54.50 as she proved too strong for Hassan. The newly-crowned 5000m Olympic champion ran 3:55.86 and was the main reason that the top two produced such stunning times.

In a cracking race, the first eight ran inside four minutes. Nozomi Tanaka – the first Japanese to break four minutes from her semi-final – and Gabriela Debues-Stafford were the first athletes to show and the Canadian was ahead at 200m in a lively 30.9.

Hassan was 10th at 100m but moved up to second at 200m and then into the lead at 300m. Muir reacted quickly and, at 300m, she and Kipyegon were on the leader’s shoulder in 46.7. The Dutchwoman went through 400m in 62.9 and a time well inside four minutes was guaranteed.

The pace slowed slightly through 600m (1:35.3) and 800m  in 2:07.0 with Hassan still ahead of Kipyegon (2:07.1), Debues-Stafford (2:07.3), Muir (2:07.5) and Tanaka (2:07.5) as the whole field went through in 2:09.2 or faster.

Hassan began to drive again past halfway and ran the next 200m in 31.4 and to lead at 1000m in 2:38.4, with Kipyegon (2:38.4), Muir (2:38.6), Debues-Stafford (2:38.9) Tanaka (2:39.3) and Frewyni Gebreezibeher  (2:39.4) the only athletes still in contention for a medal. There was now a yawning gap to seventh-placed Linden Hall (2:40.4).

Hassan kept the pace to the bell with a 15.6 100m to lead in 2:54.0, with Kipyegon right there (2:54.0) and Muir (2:54.2) just edging away from the Canadian (2:54.4) and the Ethiopian (2:55.0).

The long-time leader continued to stride out but there was no acceleration as she passed 1200m in 3:09.4, with Kipyegon (3:09.5) and Muir (3:09.7) still looking fresh, but Debues-Stafford (3:09.9) was straining and the medal winners looked to have been decided.

Kipyegon made her move down the back straight and her 14.1 100m took her a few metres clear, with Hassan holding off Muir (3:23.9 to 3:24.0) and Debues-Stafford now a second back (3:25.1).

Muir could sense Hassan was at her limit and kicked past but Kipyegon was not slowing and the Kenyan hit the straight a second clear after a very fast 14.2 bend.

The pace was beginning to tell for all of the runners but Kipyegon continued to move away and she, Muir and Hassan finished well clear of Gebreezibeher (3:57.60) and Debues-Stafford (3:58.93) as Hall set a PB 3:59.01 in sixth.

Off such a fast pace, Kipyegon’s 59.2 last circuit was extraordinary, as was her 2:01.9 last 800m.

With her two Olympic golds, a world title and two world silvers, the Kenyan is now surely the greatest female 1500m runner in history.

She said: “I am so happy. It was something I didn’t really expect and I made it, thank god. I am really happy. It was a really fast race, I knew it will be going until the last lap. They are all strong. But I am so happy to have set the Olympic record.”

It took the greatest to beat a brilliant Muir. She ran 2:03.9 for her last 800m and 60.3 for her last circuit in what was far and away the greatest run of her life.

She has won a European title, four European Indoor golds and two world indoor medals but in the big global events she been so unlucky in what is arguably one of the highest standard track events.

In World Championships she has been fourth once, fifth twice, sixth (in the 5000m) and was seventh at the last Olympics where she was criticised for being too aggressive. Five years later she is a much stronger and smarter runner and the top 10 average of her best marks is now in the 3:56 range, which underlines her incredible consistency.

Her 3:54.50 replaces her previous PB of 3:55.22, set five years ago in Paris not long after the Olympics when she beat Kipyegon and Hassan into second and third.

She said: “It felt like a 3:54. That last 100m was so hard as I was tying up and worried someone might pip me and I would be fourth but I wanted it so bad.

“I don’t know what to say. I’ve worked so hard for so long. I’ve been fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh since 2015 and I’ve got a silver medal and a British record!”

“There was no doubt in my mind that this was going to happen. I was so nervous all week. My coach [Andy Young] has sacrificed the last ten years for that four minutes.”

“I knew I was going to cry whether I did or didn’t get a medal, it was always going to end in tears, so I’m just so happy it was happy tears. There’s been a lot of sad tears in the past few years so it’s just so great that I’ve finally got this .”

“I’m such a different runner now to what I was then (in 2016), physiologically I just couldn’t deal with it, mentally I was going to go with it but my body just couldn’t cope whereas this year I’ve prepared for it, I’m 100% fit, in past years I haven’t been 100% and I think that showed in coming fourth and fifth in things, but this year no interruptions. This is what I’m capable of and I’m just so happy that I was able to go out there and deliver what I feel I’m capable of doing. “