World Record Performance Earns Readers' and Editors' Choice Awards

Track and field fans voiced their choices in this week's DyeStat's Performance of the Week poll, while DyeStat's editors made their own selection.

The DyeStat Performance of the Week Awards will take a two-week break and return Aug. 13 with a new Performance of the Week poll.

Readers’ Choice: Beatrice Chepkoech

With 35.47 percent of the vote, Beatrice Chepkoech won our Readers’ Choice vote, beating Shelby Houlihan with her second-place tally of 26.79 percent.

The requested pace for the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase at the Monaco Diamond League meeting was fast. Several athletes had hopes of running under the nine-minute barrier, something only four women have done in history.

Beatrice Chepkoech was the only athlete to follow the fast early pace of the rabbit. The pace was so fast, the rabbit did not last long, bringing Chepkoech through the first kilometer in 2:55. From there, Chepkoech was on her own.

The 27-year-old Kenyan increased her pace in the second kilometer, completing the first two-thirds of the race in 5:49. After that, Chepkoech just needed to hang on to break the world record.

Chepkoech's lead stretched to around 90 meters as she completed the final laps of the race. With one lap to go, only a disaster would keep her from breaking Ruth Jebet's world record of 8:52.78. The only question was by how much she would break it.

Chepkoech crossed the finish line in 8:44.32, bettering the previous record by eight seconds. It was the second-largest improvement in the world record in the history of the women's steeplechase.

Editors’ Choice: Beatrice Chepkoech

Had there not been a world record this week, this award would likely have gone to one of several athletes. Courtney Frerichs finished second in the Monaco race, running an American record 9:00.85. She is now ranked sixth all-time in the steeplechase.

A day later, Frerichs' Bowerman Track Club teammate, Shelby Houlihan, took down another American record, running 14:34.45 for 5,000 meters at the Night of Athletics in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium. She took four seconds off Shannon Rowbury's record in a race where she ran the final stages of the race alone. Cory McGee and Shalane Flanagan helped to set the early pace.

A third impressive performance came from the Norwegian teenager, Jakob Ingebrigtsen. The 17-year old finished fourth in the Monaco Diamond League 1,500 meters, running 3:31.18, breaking the European U-20 record and becoming the third Ingebrigtsen brother to run 3:31 or better. His brother, Filip, finished third in the race in 3:30.01.

And all those performances ignore the top two performances of the London Diamond League meeting. Sifan Hassan of The Netherlands ran the No. 3 mile ever run in 4:14.71 in what ended up being the deepest women's mile race ever contested. Also, Kenya's Emmanuel Korir ran an impressive 1:42.05 for 800 meters to move up to sixth on the all-time performer list.

But this week's award must go to the new world record holder, Chepkoech. It is not just that she broke the world record, but that she broke it by such a large margin. Only one athlete has broken the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase record by more than her in the 19-year history of the event. That athlete was Justina Bak of Poland, who took the record from 9:40.20 to 9:25.31 in 2001.

For perspective, the entry standard for last year's IAAF World Outdoor Championships was 9:42.00. Last year's race was won by Emma Coburn in 9:02.58, which now ranks her seventh on the all-time performer list. The event has come a long ways in the last 17 years.

Chepkoech has had an interesting career in the steeplechase with limited success at the championship level. She first ran a steeplechase event in 2015, covering the 2,000-meter version of the event in 6:02.47. A year later she finished fourth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the Rio Olympics.

In 2017, Chepkoech broke nine minutes for the first time, but she made mistakes in the IAAF World Outdoor Championships that prevented her from medaling. She led the field through the first lap, but she did not cut in to take the water jump for the first time. Chepkoech realized her mistake, but she had to go back and go over the barrier properly.

Then less than 300 meters later, Chepkoech fell going over a barrier and took out half the field. It was that event that made it possible for Coburn and Frerichs to finish first and second. Despite those two massive errors, Chepkoech still finished fourth and had been in the lead group with 300 meters to go in the race.

This year, Chepkoech has taken a different direction than many of her Kenyan steeplechase counterparts, competing in flat events, in addition to the steeplechase. She placed seventh in the IAAF World Indoor Championships 1,500 meters. She also has regularly raced at 5,000 meters.

Unfortunately, Chepkoech's championship steeplechase struggles continued this year. She finished second to Aisha Praught Leer at the Commonwealth Games. However, shattering the world record is likely a desirable consolation prize.

Chepkoech will likely enter next year's IAAF World Outdoor Championships as the favorite. She has shown speed on the flat, strong hurdling ability and the strength necessary to be the fastest ever in the steeplechase. Now she will just need to transfer all of that into a championship setting.

It should be noted that Chepkoech broke the record belonging to a woman who is now serving a preliminary suspension for doping. Jebet tested positive for the blood-boosting drug, EPO. Her case is currently before the IAAF Disciplinary Tribunal. The record Prior to Jebet's 2016 record goes back to Gulnara Samitova-Galkina of Russia, who became the first woman to break nine minutes at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with her 8:58.81 win.

Nonetheless, Chepkoech's performance was impressive. If she can maintain her dominance in the steeplechase, she could pull the event to greater heights as the record history of the women's steeplechase approaches 20 years old.