Inside Faith Kipyegon’s historic four-minute mile attempt

On June 26, Faith Kipyegon will step onto the track at the Stade Charléty in Paris and attempt to do what no woman before her has done: run a mile in under four minutes.

Already the world record holder in the mile – as well as the 1,500-metre run – Kipyegon will need to shave 7.65 seconds off the winning time she set in 2023 in order to break the historic benchmark and achieve something once thought to be beyond the reach of a woman (also once thought to be beyond the physical capabilities of women? Running a marathon). 

“This is to cement my legacy and to inspire the next generation of women in sports to know that you can push yourself and achieve what people think is impossible,” Kipyegon, who is the most decorated woman middle-distance athlete of all time, tells Dazed. “That’s the dream I’ve been dreaming of.”  

Since Roger Bannister became the first man to break the four-minute barrier in 1954, the time has become an aspirational benchmark for athletes and a symbol of what can be achieved through pushing the limits of the human body and mind. To improve her record time by at least 7.65 seconds, Kipyegon will need to run each of her four laps an average of nearly two seconds faster. 

In her corner, helping her train both physically and mentally for the challenge, are her coach Patrick Sang and fellow runner and record breaker, mentor Eliud Kipchoge, as well as partner Nike, who have invested research in everything from aerodynamics and physiology to footwear and apparel innovation to support and enhance Kipyegon’s performance. “If she breaks the four-minute mile, it will change history,” says Kipchoge.

As she prepares for the attempt, Kipyegon has been training at the camp she has been at since 2019. Tucked away on the edge of a small town north west of Eldoret in the Kenyan Highlands, sitting between forests and corn plantations at an altitude of 2,500 metres, the Kaptagat camp is home to around 20 athletes who eat, sleep and train there five days a week. 

The camp is a testament to the benefits of simplicity, humility and a ‘less is more’ approach. It features none of the futuristic, hi-tech equipment that you might expect at a camp that has trained multiple Olympic medallists, world record holders and legends of the sport. You’ll find no hyperbaric chambers, stroboscopic training or virtual reality concentration exercises here. 

Instead of the £50,000 cryochambers found in the homes of footballers like Christiano Ronaldo and Erling Haaland, after their weekly 40-kilometre-long runs, the athletes cool down in a blue plastic barrel filled with ice. They sleep in communal dormitories, share household chores, and three times a week make the bread that they eat for breakfast every day. For nearly 15 years, athletes got their water from a well, and it’s only recently that running water and solar panels were installed. Apart from that, the camp remains unchanged from when it was set up in 2002, and the basic facilities have led many to describe the camp as “spartan”.

The aim of the camp is to train well-rounded athletes who don’t just compete and go on to become champions, but who are part of a close-knit community that values teamwork, hard work and self-improvement. In a corner of the living and dining room is a library named after Nike’s Sandy Bodecker and filled with books ranging from Trevor Noah’s autobiography to GCSE chemistry textbooks. 

The athletes are encouraged to read at least one page every day as part of their mission to improve themselves by one per cent every day. As a recurring saying within the camp goes, “the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” Similarly, there is a tradition of planting trees around the camp to teach the lesson of patience and that everything takes time.

“It’s not about just running and just getting the money or getting a huge name. It’s about creating an impactful community, creating a community of running and inspiring the next generation. To mix sport and education,” explains Kipchoge. “It’s about holistic training, that you want to make better people than us, and above all, running is about creating a positive community. That’s what we are doing here. We are trying to tell people that if we stay together, if we trust each other, we’ll grow together. No one grows alone, you grow with people.”

This emphasis on teamwork, bonding and mentorship – with the ages of the athletes ranging from 18 to 40, senior members like Kipchoge often take on mentor-roles – has been a key aspect to Kipyegon’s success and her boundary-breaking mindset, she says. “Being here together, we encourage each other. When you work as a team, you achieve great things. The teamwork is what really drives us to where we are.” 

When it comes to the more tangible, practical changes that she and her coaching team will make in order to shave two seconds off her lap times and achieve the sub-four minute goal, Kipyegon is diplomatically coy. “On my side, I don’t think there is anything I’m going to change. I just need to train as I usually do, be myself, and focus on the project,” she says. “I have to be fit and, at the same time, have mental strength. I have to be strong in my mind to know that this very tough thing is coming ahead.” 

Coach Sang, who founded the camp in partnership with Global Sports Communication and Nike, is slightly more forthcoming about the effort that has been put into making this achievement possible. “We’ve not changed anything so much in training, but what we’ve done is we’ve recruited extra knowledge,” he says. This has included doing SWOT analysis, trips to Nike HQ in Oregon for testing, and recruiting specialists to help work on any weaknesses in Kipyegon’s technique and form. “Mentally, Faith is super. So there’s nothing to do much on the mental strength; the motivation to work hard is already with her.”

Outside experts, meanwhile, recently predicted that the goal could be reached through improved aerodynamic drafting achieved through having two pacers, one behind Kipyegon and one in front, for the duration of the attempt.

On the day, Kipchoge, who made history himself when he became the first person to run a marathon in under two hours in 2019, also believes that the noise of the crowd and a whole stadium of people willing Kipyegon on will push her forward. “I always tell Faith to believe in herself, to think about making history and to go for it. Think to do the unthinkable and do the unthinkable. Everything is possible. If you put it in your heart and your mind, and you say it out loud, it will happen,” he says. “This is the chance of a lifetime.”

Kipyegon is very aware of how momentous the occasion is and says she feels both excited and nervous. “When you are targeting a big thing and a milestone in your career, it can be tough,” she says. But knowing that the team behind her has been successful and broken their own barriers inspires her.   

If she does realise the attempt, she’ll not only have pushed her own limits beyond what’s long believed to be achievable, but that of the sport as a whole, and will be setting the stage for future generations to dream the impossible. “It will really mean a lot to me, especially, to have cemented my legacy,” she says. “It will inspire the next generation of women to know that a woman can do this and to set standards and achieve milestones in our career. They will know that what a man can do, a woman can do better.”