Beatrice Chebet beats Faith Kipyegon for double gold in Tokyo
Chebet took the 5,000m/10,000m double in a nail-biting contest against the 1,500m queen
Nick Iwanyshyn
It wasn’t fast, but it was still one of the most exciting races we’ve seen at this year’s World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. Though defending 5,000m champion Faith Kipyegon blinked first, unleashing her devastating kick with 500m to go, in the end, 10,000m champion Beatrice Chebet got the better of her, crossing the line in 14:54.36, completing her collection of medals over the distance and achieving the incredibly demanding 10,000m/5,000m double for the second time in just over a year.
BEATRICE GETS THE DOUBLE 🤩
🇰🇪’s Beatrice Chebet wins the 5000m after a phenomenal sprint to the finish line with 14:54.36, just ahead of her teammate @Kipyegon_Faith 😍
🇮🇹’s Nadia Battocletti grabs the bronze with 14:55.42 🔥#WorldAthleticsChamps pic.twitter.com/hkPbWALLoD
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) September 20, 2025
Rarely do we get to see the most dominant 5,000m and 1,500m runners in the world facing off against each other. Kipyegon, the greatest 1,500m runner in history, was forced to settle for silver on Saturday (with a season’s best 14:55.07) after winning 1,500m gold earlier in the competition. Kipyegon won the 1,500m/5,000m double in Budapest in 2023.
Italy’s Nadia Battocletti took an impressive bronze medal in the race, after taking silver last year in Paris; Battocletti also won silver in the 10,000m in Tokyo earlier this week. Italy had not won a world championship medal in this event since 1997.
Chebet, who won the 5,000m/10,000m distance double at Paris 2024, is also the 5,000m world record holder (13:58.06).
The race went out slowly, with the pace controlled at the front by Team USA’s Shelby Houlihan, who set the American record over the distance at the 2019 world championships in Doha; she took world silver indoors earlier this year. (Houlihan would go on to finish fourth.)
Kipyegon and Chebet ran side by side for much of the race, in the middle of the pack; at the bell, it was Kipyegon, Chebet, Battocletti and Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay, who won the event in 2022, but Tsegay faded to fifth in the final 100m.
For full results of the 2025 World Athletics Championships, click here.
Canadian Running’s coverage of the 2025 World Athletics Championships is brought to you by ASICS Canada.
