Sifan Hassan faces the biggest challenge of his career
Hassan's competitions were confirmed on August 7, when the Dutch track and field team announced the list of participants for the world tournament from August 18 to 27 in Budapest, Hungary.
Hassan attended all three events in Tokyo 2021, winning gold medals of 5,000m, 10,000m and bronze medal of 1,500m. As a result, the Dutch runner became the only athlete in Olympic history to win medals in the middle and long distance events in one Olympics. Hassan is also the second female runner to complete the 5,000m and 10,000m races at the Olympics.
But as Canadian Running Magazine said, the ambition to win gold in all three events of 5,000m, 10,000m and 1,500m will be the most difficult challenge in Hassan's career. The reason is the tight schedule when this athlete has to run five times in nine days.
On August 19, Hassan started the army by competing in the 1,500m qualifying round in the afternoon, before attending the 10,000m final in the evening. The Dutch athlete will have less than 24 hours to recover before returning to the track in the 1,500m semi-finals on the afternoon of August 20.
Hassan rested on August 21 before competing in the 1,500m final on August 22, and then attending the 5,000m qualifying round on August 23. After that, she had two days off to prepare for the last run - the 5,000m final on the evening of August 26.
According to Canadian Running Magazine, Hassan is likely to win all three of these events, but his best hope for gold will be in the 10,000m. She once set a 10,000m world record with a time of 29 minutes 6 seconds 82 in June 2021, before being broken by Letesenbet Gidey of Ethiopia just two days later, with a time of 29 minutes 1 second 03.
In the 1,500m and 5,000m events, Hassan faced a big challenge from Faith Kipyegon - Kenyan runner who just broke three world records in the 1,500m, 5,000m and 1 mile (1.6 km) events in two months. Kipyegon also dominated the 1,500m distance, having always finished first since June 2021, in which she once defeated Hassan himself to win the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo 2021.
At last year's world championships in Eugene, Oregon, USA, Hassan competed in two events of 5,000m and 10,000m but could not win a medal. The Dutch athlete finished sixth in the 5,000m and fourth in the 10,000m.
Five weeks after Budapest 2023, Hassan will continue to compete in the Chicago Marathon on October 8. Here, the Ethiopian Dutch runner will face many elites such as American marathon recordist Emily Sisson or Ruth Chepngeich - Kenyan runner aiming for a third consecutive Chicago Marathon title.
In April 2023, at the first marathon, Hassan won the London Marathon with a time of 2 hours 18 minutes 33 seconds and set a national record. 41 days later, Hassan won a double gold medal in the content of 1,500m (3 minutes 58 seconds 12) and 10,000 meters (29 minutes 37 seconds 80) in Hengelo, the Netherlands.
