Sifan Hassan

Sifan Hassan (born 1 January 1993) is an Ethiopian-born Dutch middle- and long-distance runner. She is most recognized for her versatility in running championship and world leading performances in widely disparate distances. She completed an unprecedented triple at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, winning gold medals in both the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres and a bronze medal for the 1500 metres. Hassan is the only athlete in Olympic history to win medals across a middle-distance event and both long-distance races in a single Games. She is only the second woman to complete an Olympic distance double.
At the World Athletics Championships, Hassan took 1500 m and 10,000 m titles in 2019, becoming the only athlete (male or female) in history to win both these events at a single World Championships or Olympic Games. She won a bronze at the 1500 m in 2015, and at the 5000 m in 2017 when she also finished fifth in the 1500 m. Hassan is a three-time World Indoor Championships medallist, winning gold at 1500 m in 2016 as well as silver at 3000 m and bronze for 1500 m in 2018. She earned six European medals (including two cross country titles), and one European indoor medal. She is also a three-time Diamond League winner, having secured the 1500 m/5000 m double in 2019. In her debut over the classic 26.2-mile distance, she won the 2023 London Marathon.
Hassan has been the world record holder for the one hour run since 2020. She held the world record for the one mile on the track from July 2019 to July 2023, when Faith Kipyegon overtook it. She held a world record at 10,000 m for two days in June 2021. She holds six European records (1500 m, 3000 m, 5000 m, 10,000 m, half marathon, marathon) and three other Dutch records.
Early life
Sifan Hassan was born in Adama, Oromia, Ethiopia and raised in the countryside of Kersa in the Munesa district of the Arsi Zone of Oromia. She was a recreational runner there. She left Ethiopia as a refugee and arrived in the Netherlands in 2008 at age fifteen. She began running while undertaking studies to become a nurse.
Hassan became a Dutch citizen in 2013.
Career
2011–2012
Affiliated with Eindhoven Atletiek, Hassan entered the Eindhoven half marathon in 2011 and won the race with a time of 77:10 minutes. She was also runner-up at two cross country races (Sylvestercross and Mol Lotto Cross Cup). She won those races in 2012, as well as the 3000 m at the Leiden Gouden Spike meet.
2013–2014
Hassan made her breakthrough in the 2013 season. She ran an 800 metres best of 2:00.86 minutes to win at the KBC Night of Athletics and took wins in the 1500 m at the Nijmegen Global Athletics and Golden Spike Ostrava meets. On the 2013 IAAF Diamond League circuit she was runner-up in the 1500 m at Athletissima with a personal best of 4:03.73 minutes and was third at the DN Galan 3000 m with a best of 8:32.53 minutes—this time ranked her the fourth-fastest runner in the world that year.
Hassan became a Dutch citizen in November 2013, too late for competing at the 2013 World Championships, and the following month she made her first appearance for the Netherlands. At the 2013 European Cross Country Championships she won the gold medal in the under-23 category and helped the Dutch team to third in the rankings. She also won the Warandeloop and Lotto Cross Cup Brussels races that winter.
At the beginning of 2014 she ran a world leading time of 8:45.32 minutes for the 3000 m at the Weltklasse in Karlsruhe, then broke the Dutch indoor record in the 1500 m with a time of 4:05.34 minutes at the Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix.
2015
At the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, Hassan won the bronze medal in the 1500 metres. She became the second female Dutch athlete ever to win a medal at the World Championships, after Dafne Schippers. She was the third female Dutch winner at the 2015 European Cross Country Championships, following in the footsteps of fellow African migrants Hilda Kibet and Lornah Kiplagat.
2016–2017
Hassan won her heat in the 1500 m in the 2016 Rio Olympics in 4:06.64 before Faith Kipyegon. In the semifinals she placed second in 4:03.62 after Genzebe Dibaba who won in 4:03.06. In the final Kipyegon took the Olympic gold medal with 4:08.92, Dibaba was the runner up with 4:10.27 and Jennifer Simpson took the bronze medal in 4:10.53. Hassan placed fifth in a time of 4:11.23.
She finished fifth in the 1500 m at the 2017 World Athletics Championships and won the bronze medal in the 5000 metres event.
2018
On 13 July, she broke the European record for 5000 metres by finishing second at the Rabat Diamond League in 14:22.34. A few days later, Hassan won the first Millicent Fawcett Mile at the 2018 London Anniversary Games in a time of 4:14.71, the fourth-fastest result at the time.
At the 2018 European Championships, she won a gold medal in the 5000 m with the time 14:46:12, setting a new championships record.
On 16 September, she broke the European record for the half marathon with a time of 65:15, winning the Copenhagen Half Marathon.
2019
On 17 February, Hassan set the world record for a 5 km road race stopping the clock at 14:44 in Monaco. It has since been broken, first by Beatrice Chepkoech, then by Ejgayehu Taye. The 5 km road race has been a world record event since 1 November 2017. At the Prefontaine Classic in June, she broke the European 3000 m record with a time of 8:18.49.
Mile world record
On 12 July, Hassan entered the mile run at the Herculis meet in Fontvieille, Monaco. Olha Lyakhova was the pace setter, taking the field through the first two laps (measured at the start line, not the quarter-mile splits) in 64.26 and 63.94 (2:08.20). As is typical for Hassan, she was last off the start line, but over the next 150 metres, slowly eased herself around the field on the outside into the marking position behind Lyakhova. Gabriela DeBues-Stafford soon moved through the field in between Hassan and Lyakhova for the next lap before Hassan and Gudaf Tsegay separated from the field as the only chasers. Between 800 and 1000 metres, Lyakhova strained to keep on pace, but Hassan and Tsegay were moving forward. After Lyakhova stepped out, the two found themselves 15 metres ahead of the pack. At 1200 metres, Hassan was looking back at her close chaser Tsegay in 3:10.13 (a 61.93 lap). Hassan accelerated, opening a 5-metre gap over the next 100 metres. Continuing at this pace, she passed 1500 metres in about 3:55. Hassan covered the last 409.344 metres in 62.20, her final time of 4:12:33 breaking Svetlana Masterkova's almost 23-year-old world record. The athletes trailing Hassan rewrote the all-time top 25 list, with Laura Weightman moving into position #15, DeBues-Stafford into #17, and after #5 all-time Tsegay faded into the pack she was followed by Rababe Arafi, Axumawit Embaye, Winnie Nanyondo and Ciara Mageean moving into positions #20–23.
She was the double 2019 Diamond League champion, winning both the 1500 and 5000 metres Trophies.
On 28 September, she became the 2019 World Champion in the 10,000 metres in her second race for that distance. Her first race at the event was in Stanford in a time of 31:18.12, just fast enough to achieve the qualifying standard for the World Championships. The winning time of 30:17.62 was the best time of the year on the track. Alina Reh (Germany) led the field after 3000 m in 9:29.69. The front runner reached the halfway point in 15:32.70. Letesenbet Gidey finished in 30:21.23, with Agnes Tirop (Kenya) coming in third place in 30:25.50. The second half of the run was covered in 14:45. Hassan also won the 1500 metres race with a time of 3:51.95 (sixth place on the 1500 m all-time list), setting a new championships and European records. The second-placed finisher was Faith Kipyegon in 3:54.22, a new Kenyan national record, and the third place went to Gudaf Tsegay with 3:54.38.
2020–2021
On 10 October, Hassan set a European record for the women's 10,000 metres in a time of 29:36.67, breaking the best set by Great Britain's Paula Radcliffe in 2002 by more than 24 seconds.
On 6 June 2021, she bettered her performance at the event to set a world record of 29:06.82 in Hengelo, beating 2016 record of Ethiopian Almaz Ayana by more than 10 seconds. Hassan lost the record two days later, however, when Ethiopia's Letesenbet Gidey achieved a time of 29:01.03 at the same stadium.
Hassan won gold in the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres at the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. She also won bronze in the 1500 metres. She became the only athlete ever to medal in the 1500, 5000, and 10,000 metres events at the same Olympics. Her 5000 m winning time was 14:36.79 ahead of Hellen Obiri from Kenya with 14:38.36, while Gudaf Tsegay won a bronze medal in a time of 14:38.87. Her gold medal win made her the first Dutch woman with an Olympic athletics medal in a long-distance event. She was the first non-Kenyan or Ethiopian athlete to win the event since Gabriela Szabo won in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
2022
This season was considered a resting year for Hassan as she ended a break from training 5 weeks before competing at the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon where she finished sixth in the 5000 metres and fourth in the 10,000 metres.
2023–present
On 23 April, on her debut over the classic marathon distance, the 30-year-old won the London Marathon with a time of 2:18:33. She lost contact with the leaders after stopping to stretch her leg twice about 19 km into the race, and was 28 seconds behind at the 25 km mark. Despite this, Hassan caught up with the slowing lead quartet with four kilometres to go and prevailed in a sprint finish on the final straight, four seconds ahead of Alemu Megertu. "It was really amazing. I never thought I would finish a marathon", said Hassan.
On 3 June, just 41 days after her marathon debut, Hassan made her return to outdoor track in Hengelo, Netherlands. She competed in the 10,000 metres and the 1500 metres, winning both events; the 10,000 metres with a time of 29:37.80, and the 1500 metres in 3:58.12.
On 8 October, Sifan Hassan won the Chicago Marathon with a time of 2:13:44. This is a new course record for the Chicago Marathon as well as the second-fastest women's marathon of all time.
Coach
Sifan Hassan achieved her first career breakthroughs while under the direction of Dutch national coach Honore Hoedt. Hassan decided to search for other coaching options at the end of 2016 after injuries hampered her buildup to the Rio Olympics.
Beginning in 2017, Hassan moved to the United States to be coached by Alberto Salazar at the Nike Oregon Project.
In July 2018, the Nike Oregon project hired Tim Rowberry as a coach—primarily to oversee the training of Sifan Hassan and her fellow team member Yomif Kejelcha—while Salazar remained the head coach over all athletes in the Nike Oregon Project.
In October 2019 Salazar began serving a four-year ban from athletics for doping violations dating from before he started coaching Hassan. According to court rulings which upheld Salazar’s ban, there was “no evidence put before the CAS as to any effect on athletes competing at the elite level within the Nike Oregon Project.”
The aftermath of Salazar’s ban caused the Nike Oregon Project to dissolve leading Hassan and Kejelcha to form a new training group under coach Tim Rowberry.
Hassan's current coach is Tim Rowberry. After her partnership with Rowberry began in 2018, she has set new personal best times in the 1500m, 3k, 5k, 10k, half marathon, and marathon. Hassan's training partner Yomif Kejelcha remained in the group until his departure to Adidas in 2021.
Personal bests
Information from World Athletics profile unless otherwise noted.
Competition results
Information from World Athletics profile unless otherwise noted.
International competitions
Circuit wins and titles
Diamond League Overall 1500 m winner: 2015
Diamond League 1500 m champion: 2019
Diamond League 5000 m champion: 2019
2014 (2): Paris Meeting Areva (1500 m), Glasgow Grand Prix (1500 m)
2015 (2): Birmingham British Grand Prix (1500 m), Lausanne Athletissima (1500 m)
2017 (3): Rome Golden Gala (1500 m), Paris (1500 m), Birmingham (3000 m)
2018 (2): London Anniversary Games (One mile), Birmingham (1500 m)
2019 (4): Palo Alto Prefontaine Classic (3000 m), Monaco Herculis (One mile, ), Zürich Weltklasse (1500 m), Brussels Memorial Van Damme (5000 m)
2020 (1): Brussels (One hour)
2021 (3): Rome Golden Gala in Florence (1500 m), Eugene Prefontaine Classic (5000 m), Brussels (One mile)
2022 (1): Chorzów Kamila Skolimowska Memorial (3000 m)
National titles
Dutch Indoor Athletics Championships
800 metres: 2016
1500 metres: 2015
Awards and honours
Dutch Athlete of the Year: 2018, 2019, 2021
Dutch Sportswoman of the Year: 2019, 2021
Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau: 2021
European Athlete of the Year: 2021
References
External links
1993 births
Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Diamond League winners
Dutch female cross country runners
Dutch female long-distance runners
Dutch female middle-distance runners
Dutch Muslims
Dutch people of Ethiopian descent
Ethiopian emigrants to the Netherlands
Ethiopian female cross country runners
Ethiopian female long-distance runners
Ethiopian female middle-distance runners
European Athletics Championships medalists
European Cross Country Championships winners
IAAF Continental Cup winners
Living people
Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Naturalised citizens of the Netherlands
Olympic athletes for the Netherlands
Olympic gold medalists for the Netherlands
Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field)
Olympic bronze medalists for the Netherlands
Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field)
Oromo people
Sportspeople from Oromia Region
World Athletics Championships athletes for the Netherlands
World Athletics Championships medalists
World Athletics Championships winners
World Athletics Indoor Championships winners
World Athletics record holders
World record setters in athletics (track and field)