Faith Kipyegon has indicated that she may switch to the 10,000m this year but she will have to contend with much less in earnings in her new race.
Multiple world and Olympics 1,500m champion Faith Kipyegon has hinted that this could be the year when she switches to the 10,000m race.
Kipyegon has dominated the 1,500m race, making her the greatest 1,500m runner of all time, given she has won three straight Olympics titles, as many world titles, broken world records and she has five Diamond League crowns.
As she gets into the twilight years of her career, Kipyegon knows her time in 1,500m is coming close to an end and she is now ready to embrace the 10,000m but that decision will come with some financial hit.
“It’s tough running 1,500m, 5,000m, and then moving to 10,000m. But cross-country races help me build endurance for these distances. This might be the year I finally switch to 10k,” the 31-year-old told SportsBoom.
The Jamaican sprinter revealed that loyalty to Jamaica and financial responsibilities have kept him competing, despite opportunities to retire much earlier.
Kipyegon will have to contend with less earnings in the 10,000m as it is a race that is not heavily favoured by broadcasters and is not even on the Diamond League programme.
For starters, the Diamond League is one of the revenue generating avenues for athletes as wins have been attracting $10,000 (Ksh1.3 million) per discipline at each meeting while those who made it to the final pocketed $30,000 (Ksh3.9 million) if they won.
Kipyegon started her season late last year but still ran two Diamond League meetings, in Paris and Rome, which earned her a place at the final. She won all of them to win a total of $50,000 (Ksh6.5 million) in prize money.
Besides, she broke her own world record at the Paris meeting, setting a new mark of 3:49:04, a 0.07 improvement on her previous record, which earned her a world record bonus of $50,000 (Ksh6.5 million), taking her total from the Diamond League alone to Ksh13 million.
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This is what is already known but being one of the highly favoured events, 1,500m attracts sponsorship and for an A-List athlete like Kipyegon, it means a higher appearance fee as she is among the crowd pullers.
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The Diamond League prize money is set to increase starting this season with wins attracting now $20,000 (Ksh2.6 million) and this is an amount the mother of one will have to miss out on if she decides to fully transition to 10,000m in future.
A new and longer distance will therefore mean less visibility for Kipyegon and the result is reduced earnings.
However, this is the price Kipyegon will have to pay in the short term for a much bigger reward in the long term as the 10,000m will prepare her for a career in long distance races.
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The 31-year-old has never hidden her desire to switch to marathon and 10,000m will be the first step towards that.
While she will miss out on some rewards on the track, she will be setting herself up for much bigger payouts in road races whose earnings dwarfs what track stars make.
Kipyegon therefore knows switching to 10,000m might reduce her earnings now but it will just be some short-term pain for long-term gain.