The Dutchwoman constantly seeks special challenges. Just as she won three medals in Tokyo, she has also won three medals in Paris – but what she demonstrated in the marathon is extraordinary.
In the footsteps of Emil Zatopek: Sifan Hassan runs the long-distance triple in Paris – and wins three medals.
It was a symbolic gesture, and it turned out to be a great stroke of luck: For once, it was not the men’s marathon that closed the athletics at the Summer Games, but the women’s. What they offered the audience was one of the greatest races in the history of long-distance running, if not the greatest of all time. And it crowned the career of an incredible athlete: Sifan Hassan.
Hassan came to the Netherlands as a 15-year-old refugee in 2008 and started athletics there. In 2014, she was finally able to compete for her new home and became European champion over 1500 meters in Zurich. By now, the 31-year-old has won titles at a global level in all distances from 1500 meters to marathon gold. No other person has ever achieved this.
Sifan Hassan runs two crazy triples at the Olympics
Even crazier is what she challenged herself with at the 2021 and 2024 Olympics. In Tokyo, she competed in the 1500, 5000, and 10,000 meters, winning twice gold and once bronze. This was unprecedented, and it required a crazy schedule from Hassan: In total, she covered 24.5 kilometers on the track, competing in the 1500 meter heats in the morning of August 2 and winning the final of the 5000 meters in the evening.
Hassan has always said that she simply enjoys running and loves challenges. This year, there was speculation about whether she would take on four distances, but she limited herself to the triple in the long distances: 5000 meters, 10,000 meters, marathon.
That, too, is crazy; the last person to attempt it was Emil Zatopek at the 1952 Summer Games. Back then, the competition was far less diverse, especially as there were no Africans competing. But Zatopek was also an extraordinary figure; he revolutionized training by running endless intervals, sometimes to toughen up even in military shoes.
At the 1952 Games, the Czech athlete won the 5000 and 10,000 meters. Then, he made the last-minute decision to run a marathon for the first time in his life. He also won that one – with an Olympic record, like the two races before. It was a milestone in the history of running.
The debut in London is already spectacular
Hassan’s program in Paris was not aimed at breaking records. The goal was to complete the mammoth program she had set for herself as efficiently and successfully as possible: 62.195 racing kilometers within nine days. Over both the 5000 and 10,000 meters, she won bronze. After the final of the 25 laps, she had exactly 35.5 hours of recovery until the marathon.
On this mythical distance, the Dutchwoman made a spectacular debut in London in 2023. Already after 19 kilometers, she experienced muscular issues and had to do stretching exercises while the leaders pulled ahead. Paula Radcliffe, the long-time world record holder over the 42.195 kilometers, said as a co-commentator on BBC that it was evident that neither Hassan nor her coach knew much about marathon running.
Someone should intervene and pull Hassan from the race, Radcliffe demanded. But she picked herself up and set out to catch up with the leaders. She closed the gap, which had been up to 28 seconds, and won in the final sprint. Her time of 2:18:33 was outstanding for a debutant. Her coach Tim Rowberry later told the “Algemeen Dagblad” that on that day, the runner began to speak of Zatopek.
What she is worth in the marathon was proved by Hassan six months after her debut when she ran 2:13:44 in Chicago. This is still the second-best time ever achieved by a woman over this distance. Consequently, she was among the favorites for the 2024 Summer Games. But she immediately said that she loved the track far too much to focus solely on road races. Thus, the monster program of Paris came to be.
The marathon, which led out to Versailles and back into the metropolis, was one of the most demanding tasks ever presented to long-distance runners. There were 438 meters of elevation to overcome in two climbs; there were inclines of up to 13 percent up and 15 percent down. This is a torturous experience for athletes who are used to competing on completely flat courses for best times.
Hassan demonstrated not only athletic qualities in Paris but also racing intelligence. On the second, particularly steep ascent, she allowed herself to be dropped and maintained her rhythm. Once she reached the top, she quickly caught up to the lead group. Experts had always said that those with the best legs after the grueling downhill would win the race.
The best in the world engage in a brutal pace race
But the leading group was so strong that it became a pace race over ten kilometers on the flat. Hassan kept herself at the back of the group, as usual on the track; whenever the pace abruptly increased, she let herself get distanced by a meter or two, then promptly caught up again.
And so it ultimately came down to a sprint finish between the two fastest marathon runners in history. The Ethiopian Tigst Assefa holds the world record at 2:11:53. She, like Hassan, was formerly an 800-meter runner and thus also possesses an excellent finishing speed.
Hassan was the first to attack; in a curve, the two brushed against each other and narrowly avoided a fall. Then the Dutchwoman made one more move and won by three seconds. In the second, hilly half, she ran three minutes faster than in the first flat section. Her winning time of 2:22:55 is an Olympic record.
She had never suffered so much as that day and constantly thought about why she had even run the 5000 and 10,000 meters. But in the end, she told herself: “Come on, Sifan! Just feel like you’re sprinting a 200!”