Women World Champions of 2019 – Year end Special
The year 2019 saw the domination of women athletes breaking outstanding World Records to command the athletics world with great aplomb. With the competition becoming fierce in each events, 7 women excelled in their respective events throughout the year to dominate their respective events.
American sprinter Allyson Michelle Felix broke the world’s greatest sprinter Usain Bolt’s record of Maximum World Championships Gold medals by winning her 13th Gold medals, one more than Bolt in Doha. At the World Championships in Doha, Allyson Felix won the Gold medal in 4X400m Relay to equal Bolt’s 12 Gold medals. She went onto win another Gold medal in 4x400m Mixed Relay to go down in history with Maximum World Championships Gold medals with a tally of 13.
Ethiopian-born Dutch athlete Sifan Hassan became the first-ever athlete, male or female, to win the World Championships titles in the 1,500m and the 10,000m in the single World Championships or Olympic Games to etch her name in golden letters in the history books. The Dutch athlete also broke the Mile World Record on the 12th of July 2019 at the Herculis meet in Fontvieille, Monaco clocking 4:12:33. Sifan Hassan broke 23-year-old World Record established by Svetlana Masterkova.
American hurdler Dalilah Muhammad broke 16-year-old 400m Hurdles World Record clocking 52.20s at the USATF 2019 National Championships meet on the 28th of July 2019. She then broke her own World Record at the World Championships meet clocking 52.16s.
The icing on the cake was Kenya’s Brigid Kosgei breaking the 16-year-old longstanding Marathon World Record by 1 minute 24 seconds at the Chicago Marathon on the 13th of October 2019. Kosgei clocked an impressive time of 2:14:04 to etch her name in the history books with bright golden letters. She also shattered Chicago Marathon Course Record by 3 minutes and 14 seconds.
Nigerian-born Bahrani sprinter Salwa Eid Nassar dominated the field in the 400m throughout the year with her consistency, winning 5 Gold medals in Diamond League meetings and breaking the 400m Asian Record at the World Championships clocking an impressive 48.14s in the last race of 2019. She became the first-ever African woman to win a 400m Gold medal at the World Championships history.
Kenya’s Beatrice Chepkoech was so dominant in the 3000m Steeple Chase among fellow competitors that at the World Championships, she shattered the Championships Record clocking 8:57.84. Chepkoech established three Diamond League Meet Records in Shanghai, Eugene and Birmingham clocking 9:04.53, 8:55.58 and 9:05.55 respectively.
The greatest comeback of the year 2019 was that of two-time Olympic 100m Gold medalist Jamaican sprinter Shelley-Ann Fraser-Pryce. In the year 2017, Shelley-Ann took a break from athletics to give birth to her son. At the age of 32, Shelley-Ann became the oldest woman and the second mother to win the 100m Gold medal at the World Championships.
7. SALWA EID NASSAR:
Salwa Eid Nassar has been in a spectacular form throughout the year consistently crushing the field in the 400m at various Diamond League meetings. Nassar began her winning campaign for the 2019 Season from Shanghai Diamond league on the 18th of May 2019. She clocked an impressive 50.65s, her Season’s Best time. At the Diamond League Rome meet, she bettered her time clocking 50.26s to lift her second Gold medal.
Nassar’s superb form surprised fellow competitors as she was clipping her own timings in every single outing. At the Diamond League Rabat meet, Nassar clocked her Season’s Best of 50.13s. As if not content with her performance to win Gold medals, on the 5th of July 2019, Salwa Eid Nassar broke Lausanne Diamond League Meet Record clocking an impressive Season’s Best of 49.17s. She picked up 5th Diamond League Gold medal at the Zurich meet on the 29th of August 2019 clocking 50.24s.
At the 2019 World Championships, Salwa Eid Nassar surprised the Olympic Champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo to clock 48.14s, the third-fastest time in history. Miller-Uibo had to be content with a Silver medal with a time of 48.37s. After the win, Nassar exclaimed, “This is crazy! I was just hoping for the best, but now I am the World Champion!” Jamaican Shericka Jackson picked up the Bronze medal.
6. SHELLEY-ANN FRASER-PRYCE:
Nicknamed the ‘Pocket Rocket’, Shelley-Ann Fraser-Pryce’s 5 feet diminutive figure can be deceptive as a sprinter. She rose to fame becoming the fastest woman at the 2008 Beijing Olympics winning the Gold medal. Shelley-Ann has etched her name in history books as one of the greatest woman sprinters in the world. She has won more 100m titles than any other sprinter in the world.
It was fascinating to see Shelley-Ann defending her Olympic title at the 2012 London Olympics. She became the third woman sprinter to defend successfully the Olympics 100m title. The Jamaican is the only woman sprinter in the world, who has been crowned the 100m World Champion four times. She won the World Championships title in 2009, 2013, 2015 and 2019.
Shelley-Ann is the second woman sprinter to hold the World and Olympics 100m titles simultaneously. She is the first woman sprinter to hold dual titles on two separate occasions. At the 2013 World Championships, Shelley-Ann became the first woman sprinter to win Gold medals in the 100m, 200m and the 4x100m in a single World Championships. She is the first woman to hold the World titles at 60m dash, 100m, 200m and the 4x100m Relay race simultaneously.
At the 2019 World Championships, Shelley-Ann Fraser-Pryce made a spectacular comeback after giving birth to become the ‘Fastest Woman in the World’ clocking the World Lead with an impressive 10.71s in the 100m. She had previously won the Diamond League Gold clocking 10.74s in July.
5. BEATRICE CHEPKOECH:
Kenyan Steeple Chase specialist Beatrice Chepkoech has dominated the 3000m Steeple Chase ever since she transitioned from road race to Steeple Chase in 2016. In the past three years, Beatrice has established self as one of the greatest Steeple Chase specialists in the world. In the year 2018, Beatrice Chepkoech became the first woman to break the 8:50 and 8:45-mark to establish the 3000m Steeple Chase World Record with an outstanding timing of 8:44.32.
In the year 2019, Beatrice Chepkoech established three Diamond League Meets’ Record in Shanghai, Eugene and Birmingham. She won four Gold medals at the Diamond League meets. At the 2019 World Championships, the Kenyan broke the Championships Record with a time of 8:57.84.
4. BRIGID KOSGEI:
On the 12th of October 2019, Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge showed to the world that ‘No Human is Limited’ in Vienna, Austria, when he ran a 1:59:40.2 42.195 km Marathon. Ethiopian greatest distance athlete Kenenisa Bekele missed by just 2 seconds to break Kipchoge’s Marathon World Record of 2:01:39 at the Berlin Marathon on the 29th of September 2019. Brigid Kosgei successfully defended her Chicago Marathon title. At the 2019 London Marathon, Kosgei won the title clocking 2:18:35.
These two milestone run surely must have inspired Kenya’s Brigid Kosgei. Britain’s Paula Radcliffe held the Woman’s Marathon World Record of 2:15:25 previously since 2003. At the 2019 Chicago Marathon, Kosgei ran an outstanding race from the start to clock 2:14:04 eclipsing Paula Radcliffe’s 16-year-old Marathon World Record on the 13th of October 2019. Kosgei was 1 minute 21 seconds faster than Radcliffe’s World Record run.
3. DALILAH MUHAMMAD:
Dalilah Muhammad has had an amazing 2019 winning the World Championships title clipping 4 seconds of her own World Record clocking 52.16s. At the USATF 2019 National Championships meet, the American hurdler had shattered the 16-year-old World Record clocking 52.20s in 400m Hurdles. Russia’s Yuliya Pechonkina had established the 400m Hurdles World Record on the 3rd of August 2003 clocking 52.34s
Dalilah Muhammad had won two Diamond League Gold medals in 2019. She established a new Diamond League Meet Record on the 3rd May 2019 in Doha clocking 53.61s. Her timing was also the World Lead of the year. A month later, Muhammad won her second Gold medal in Rome clocking 53.67s.
2. ALLYSON MICHELLE FELIX
American sprinter Allyson Michelle Felix, the five-time Jesse Owens Award recipient has established self as the greatest sprinter of all-time winning a total of 13 World Championships Gold medals at the 2019 World Championships, surpassing legendary sprinter Usain Bolt’s total tally of 12 Gold medals. This is surely one of the greatest achievements for a woman sprinter in the world.
Felix’s first Gold medal at the World Championships was earned in 2005, when she won the 200m title. At the 2007 World Championships, Allyson Felix picked three Gold medals winning the 200m, 4x100m Relay and the 4x400m Relay races. In 2009, she picked up two more winning the 200m and 4x400m Relay races. Her consistency saw Felix picking two more in 2011 winning the 4x100m Relay and the 4x400m Relay Gold medals.
In 2015, Felix picked up the Gold medal in 400m. She picked up two more in 2017 winning the 4x100m Relay and the 4x400m Relay Gold medals. This year she picked up two more Gold medals in 4x400m Relay and 4x400m Mixed Relay to surpass Bolt’s 12 Gold medals.
No 1. SIFAN HASSAN:
The year 2019 has been spectacular for Sifan Hassan. On the 12th of July 2019, the Dutch sensational athlete broke the Mile World Record clocking 4:12.56 at the Diamond League meet in Monaco. On the 19th of February 2019, she established the World record in 5km Road Race clocking 14:44 in Monaco. Hassan won four Diamond League Gold medals in 2019 in 1500m, the Mile, 3000m and 5000m.
Sifan Hassan has been in a superb form throughout the year of 2019. On the 30th of June 2019, Hassan won the 3000m Gold medal clocking 8:18.49. She established the WL, AR, PB, MR and Diamond League Record. After her Mile World Record in Monaco, Hassan won the Gold medal in 1500m in Zurich. She has an amazing range within her grasp to confidently win the race. On the 6th September 2019, she clocked 14:26.26 to win the 5000m Gold medal in Brussels.
At the 2019 World Athletics Championships, Sifan Hassan won the 1500m Gold medal with a Championships Record and Netherlands National Record clocking 3:51.95. She picked up second Gold medal in 10,000m clocking 30:17.62. Sifan Hassan is one of the greatest female distance runners in the world.
