India, June 27 -- It was meant to be many fast-paced strides and a giant leap for women's sport. In the end, Kenya's Faith Kipyegon narrowly failed in her brave bid to become the first woman to run a sub four-minute mile.

The world record holder in the 1,500m and the mile had to shave off a tough 7.65 seconds from her best to go under 4 minutes. However, in a well-planned run organised and promoted by her sponsor, Nike at Stade Charlety in Paris, Kipyegon drastically slowed in the end of the race, finishing at 4 minutes, 06.91 seconds.

Kipyegon, given a protective shield by her 13 pace-setters looked on course for the four-lap run after reaching the 1000m in 2:30.68. However, the Kenyan triple Olympic and world champion and owner of the...