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Sifan Hassan Is Fine the Way She Is 02024-06-19

Estimated reading time: 38 minutes

Sifan Hassan wins the 1500m Final at the 2019 World Athletics Championships. This photo carries a GNU Free Documentation License It was created and licensed by Erik van Leeuwen, and is made available by Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons.

Sifan Hassan wishes away the camera as she is introduced to the crowd. Mouths words as she steps to the starting line. Wills herself to remain calm.

The athletes around her are taut, elastic. The gun sounds and they converge into a bustle of elbows and knees. In a pack, position is currency.

Hassan pauses at the line for a moment as the others charge and jostle. Then she tails along, a meter or two behind, the caboose to their train.

She remains a few paces behind the other runners for several laps. Lets them pull her along.

Athletes have methods for tricking their systems. Eliud Kipchoge and Dakota Lindwurm smile when they are hurting. Sifan Hassan rests her face and shoulders when she is panicking.

Hassan runs with her head uncovered, her hair braided or pulled back. In street clothes, she often wears a hijab or covers her head with a cap. Like my other favorite runners, Des Linden and Nikki Hiltz, Hassan’s running kit is gendered more as male than female. The extra fabric in their singlets and covering their thighs does not appear to be a hindrance. It may remind them to stay in control. To be themselves. They are disciplined, intellectually satisfying runners.

When you run a time trial, you choose your pace. You can build steadily or run evenly. You can peak in the middle and try to hold the pace as you tire. You can choose the hour, day, season, elevation, point in your cycle. You can follow a pacer.

Races offer little control. As with cyclists and pelotons, elite runners excel at drafting and strategy. Except for sprints, elite races reward patience, pacing, timing your finishing kick. You must navigate other runners. Using them to your advantage requires physics, physiology, psychology, game theory. Evaluating the marginal value of your energy and strength against your position.¹

Hassan’s running posture is upright. As if she might peer over the other runners’ heads and watch the pack from above. Her competitors’ strides are compact, streamlined, powerful. Hassan’s stride is angular, more languid than fluid.

She works her way up from the back to the front. She runs with the leaders for a while. Measures them. Measures time. Measures steps. No one follows a more direct path around an oval or takes fewer steps than Hassan.

As the bell rings, signaling the last lap, the other runners go to their arms. They throw jabs, perform determination. Hassan suppresses and distills it. She takes the lead. She looks back. She looks back again. And again.

Hassan’s elbows catch the wind. Her arms almost keep up. Her knees go higher, extend farther. She is James Bond on skis, outrunning snowmobiles.

The most intellectually satisfying runners are also the most exhilarating. We think along with them. We feel with them, too. As runners, we know the burst that propels us to a finish line. It is in our genes, like having room for dessert. We can suffer for miles, then bathe in endorphins. Nothing else is as encompassing. I cry when I watch Linden or Hiltz or Hassan, just as I cried at the end of my marathon. Runners know the years of compromise. The effort of the day. The joy and unburdening.

Hassan’s first World Athletics race was the 2011 Eindhoven Half Marathon. She won it as an 18-year-old.

To date, Sifan Hassan has run 186 World Athletics-recognized races. She is a two-time Olympic champion. She set four World Records. She is the second-fastest marathoner ever.

Hassan is the European record holder in six track events: 1,500m, Mile, 3,000m, 5,000m, 10,000m, and 1 Hour. On the roads, she is the European record holder in three events: 5,000m, Half Marathon, and Marathon.

It is rare and difficult to run so many distances so well in such a short period of time. From the start of her career, she raced in distances as long as the half marathon and as short as 800m. She has excelled on the track, the roads, and in cross country. She continued to win at 1,500m after she started winning marathons. There is no precedent for this breadth of success. The closest we have is Emil Zatopek, who won the 5,000m, 10,000m, and Marathon in the 1952 Olympics.

Hassan’s breadth and ability to sustain success for many years in a wide span of distances is part of her story. To appreciate her as a runner, you need more than achievements and descriptions. You need to see her run.

I have picked a representative race for each year of her career. Each one is thrilling if you know what is happening and what is at stake. How they build on each other.

It takes time to explain Hassan as a person and athlete. The way she competes with other runners, the clock, and her own expectations. I have not seen any other writers do it. I hope I have done her justice.

2013-08-22: 3,000m, Diamond League, Stockholm

Hassan was born on January 1, 1993, in Adair, Ethiopia. She grew up in the countryside of Kersa in the Munesa District of Ethiopia’s Arsi Zone. Like over 80% of the people in Arsi, she is Oromo. Like almost 60%, she is Muslim. (Hassan practices Salat, praying five times each day.) The Arsi Zone borders the East Shewa Zone, which includes Adama, the closest city to where she grew up. Reports often say she is from Adama or Nazareth (Nazareth reverted to its Oromo name, Adama, in 2000).

Her mother and grandmother raised her, and she enjoyed a happy childhood. Her parents remained married and lived on separate farms. “We didn’t have a car,” she said. “But we could eat, it was fun, and we could buy clothes. We actually had everything.”

Hassan’s Diamond League debut was the 1,500m at Lausanne on July 4. She finished second.

In her next Diamond League race, she competed in the 3,000m in Stockholm. She sits at the back of the lead pack, follows the favorites when they kick, and finishes third. By age 20, she had found her racing style. It was effective against top tier professionals. It would prove unbeatable when she raced her peers.

2013-12-08: Cross Country, European Championships (Under 23), Belgrade

Hassan’s happy childhood changed in 2007. Armed violence broke out in Oromia.

The next year, when she was 15, her mother put her on a plane on her own. She sought asylum in the Netherlands.

For eight months, she stayed at a refugee center for minors. “I am a country girl,” she said. “In the countryside, the door is open. The neighbors come together.” In the Netherlands, the locked doors made her feel cold, lonely, imprisoned. She cried every night.

She moved to Leeuwarden where she met Yke Schouwstra, a coach at the Lionitas Athletics Club. Schouwstra loaned her equipment and helped her start running again.

In 2011, she moved to Eindhoven, where there was a small Ethiopian community. She had a mattress, some clothes, a textile of the Kaaba. Ton van Hoesel coached her for two years.

Her next move was to Arnhem to join the National Spor Centre Papendal and coach Honore Hoedt. She became a Dutch citizen in November 2013.

In her first race representing the Netherlands, she followed her now standard plan. She joined the lead pack in the first couple of minutes. As the pack thinned, she stayed near the front, one of three runners to breakaway at 9:30. At 17 minutes in, she pressed the pace and ran away from everyone else. She finished in 19:40, winning by 6 seconds.

Her peers could not compete with her. She was ready to run against Europe’s best.

2014-08-15: 1,500m, Final, European Championships, Zürich

In her first European Championships, Hassan ran with an orange flower in her hair. A thin headband, street fashion rather than athletic gear, held her hair in place. Her kit seemed more suited to a gym than a track, like she had wandered onto the oval.

The opposite was true. She had run well in 2014, and often. By August 15, she had competed in 15 races in 11 countries: 800m, 1,500m, 3,000m, 5,000m. Indoors and outdoors, on 200 and 400 meter tracks.

Her best race that year had been the 1,500m Diamond League in Paris. She won in 3:57, her fastest 1,500m to date. Had Hassan been enrolled at a US college, she would still hold the NCAA record by over two seconds.

Hassan had demonstrated the speed she needed to run 1,500m against Europe’s best athletes. The only question was her strategy. Championship races can be slower, more tactical. She could get trapped on the rail, unable to make her move. She could sprint too soon and get passed in the final meters.

For almost three laps of the European Championship 1,500m, Hassan trailed the pack. She was the caboose, pulled along by a train of professionals.

The race coverage is beautiful. A camera follows the runners around the track. It is hard to find Hassan tucked away at the back.

She used the last turn before the bell lap like a slingshot and surged to the lead. Sweden’s Abeba Aregawi passed her. They run away from the other runners, Aregawi setting the pace.

Again, Hassan used the final turn. As if the track banked for her alone, like she was running downhill and everyone else was climbing.

She won her first European Gold medal. She was 21 years old.

She entered the 5,000m Final in the 2014 European Championships the next day as a favorite. She had the second-fastest personal best in the field.

Again, she started at the back. She worked her way toward the front. At the bell, she was in sixth. She waited until there was half a lap to go, moved past Meraf Bahta in the final straightaway. Bahta took the lead back and won by .4 seconds. Hassan took Silver.

Two races, 1,500m and 5,000m, against the top runners in Europe. One first place finish, one second. She was ready to compete with the best in the world.

2015-08-25: 1,500m, Final, World Championships, Beijing

For Hassan, 2015 was her most deliberate year to that point. She focused on the 800m and 1,500m at the World Championships in Beijing. Aside from a 1,000m race on May 24, those were the only distances she competed in before the World Championships.

The 1,500m in Beijing had a strong field. Faith Kipyegon would later set records. Laura Muir would become one of the best. Jenny Simpson was a recent world champion. Abeba Aregawi was the reigning champion. Genzebe Dibaba was the World Record holder. She had set the record on July 17 that year at the Diamond League, Monaco. Hassan finished second in that race.

At the start, Hassan went to the rail. The pace was slow, so she ran in the middle of the pack rather than at the rear. With two laps to go, Dibaba pushed the pace and Kipyegon followed. Hassan had to speed up to stay with them. Hassan moved up to fourth by the bell, and was in second entering the final straightaway. Neither could catch Dibaba, and Kipyegon passed Hassan for Silver.

Hassan’s Bronze made her the second Dutch medalist in women’s events at a World Championships. She hated not winning. “I did a lot of mistakes,” she said after the race. She would finish fifth two days later in the 800m semifinal, failing to qualify for the final round.

Hassan raced little in 2015 after the World Championships. Her only competition of the year that was not an 800, 1,000, 1,500, or mile was her final race. On December 13, she won the 2015 Cross Country, European Championships, in France.

Hassan had set high goals for herself and failed to achieve them. Rather than scaling back, she created more ambitious goals. She wanted to earn a Gold medal in the Olympics. At least one.

2016-08-16: 1,500m, Final, Olympics, Rio

Hassan’s build to the 2016 Olympics in Rio followed a similar script. The field for the 1,500m was similar, too. Hassan thought she would win. Felt certain she would medal.

During the introductions, she put her face in her hands as the camera moved to her. She waved to the crowd, then put her face back into her hands.

As with the Championships the year before, the pace was slow for the first two laps. Again, Dibaba pushed hard in the final two laps. Kipyegon passed her. Hassan moved into third for a few meters. Simpson and Shannon Rowbury passed her. Kipyegon won Gold, Dibaba Silver, Simpson Bronze. Hassan finished fifth.

After a few more post-Olympics races, Hassan finished her season on September 6. Her confidence was gone. She thought about quitting the sport.

Instead of retiring, she moved to the U.S. and joined the Nike Oregon Project. She wanted to run with Mo Farrah and train with his coach, Alberto Salazar. Soon after, Yomif Kejelcha moved to Oregon to train with her.

For Hassan, it was the right combination. It was where her sensibility and ability would merge. Where her body would accomplish what her mind envisioned.

2017-08-13: 5,000m Final, World Championships, Berlin

Hassan ran well through 2017, even by her standards. She emphasized longer distances. Among her highlights:

• 2017-02-11: Wanamaker Mile, Millrace Games, New York: Hassan won by 3 seconds.
• 2017-06-08: 1,500m, Diamond League, Rome: Hassan set a meet record.
• 2017-06-11: 1,500m, FBK Games: Three days later, she ran even faster in the Netherlands.
• 2017-07-01: 1,500m, Diamond League, Paris: Hassan held off Kipyegon to win.
• 2017-07-21: 800m, Diamond League, Monaco: Hassan ran her personal best in the 800. She finished fourth in a strong field.
• 2017-08-07: 1,500m Final, World Championships, Berlin: Hassan entered the race with the fastest 1,500m in the world that year. If she could match her time from the FBK Games, she had a good chance to win. Laura Muir set a tactical pace up front, and Hassan trailed the pack. Just over halfway through, Hassan made a strong move, jumping quickly from last to first. Kipyegon went with her, and Muir followed in third. In the dash to the tape, Kipyegon held on, Jenny Simpson timed her race perfectly for Silver, and Castor Semenya dipped past Muir for Bronze. Hassan finished a close fifth.

Six days later, in the 5,000m Final at the World Championships, Hassan moved to the front of the pack when the first lap was slow. Then she slowed down and let the others pass her.

When the favorites, Almaz Ayana and Hellen Obiri, picked up the pace, they ran away from everyone else. A small chase pack formed, with Hassan at the back of it.

Ayana led Obiri to a 30m lead over the chase pack halfway through the race. They extended their lead to 100m, Obiri drafting off Ayana. Hassan led the chase pack.

In the last lap, Obiri pulled away from Ayana. Their race was not close. Neither was the race for Bronze. Hassan earned a decisive third place.

Seven days later, on August 20, in the 3,000m at the Birmingham Müller Grand Prix, Hassan beat Obiri and everyone else. She set meet and national records in the process.

Four days later, on August 24, at the Diamond League race in Zürich, Hassan ran a strong 800, only .31 seconds off her personal best. She finished fifth.

She ended her first season with the Nike Oregon Project a week after Zürich. On September 1, at the Diamond League 1,500m in Brussels, Hassan came in second behind Kipyegon. On the day of that race, Hassan was four months away from turning 25.

She was living in her third country on her third continent. She lived 8,500 miles and ten time zones away from her home and family.

She was learning where she fit. What to expect of others and herself. What she could believe and what she could trust. She was ready to test her limits.

2018-09-16: Copenhagen Half Marathon

Hassan worked on her strength in 2018. She built her ability to compete at longer distances.

Her first major races of the year were at the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham (UK). She finished second in the 3,000m on March 1, and third in the 1,500m on March 3.

In July 2018, Nike hired Tim Rowberry to coach Hassan and Yomif Kejelcha, her training partner. “Yomif decided to come because he knew I was here and that I could ease his transition into life in America and the project,” she said. (Hassan and Kejelcha are both fluent in Oromo.) Kejelcha, in turn, helped her feel more connected to her childhood home.

She visited Ethiopia twice in 2018. “I want to do investment work in the future,” she said. “I want to work not only for myself but also for the people there, especially in the small towns of Munesa in the Arsi region. I want to help oppressed women as well as children in need. I think it is an asset to not only save money for yourself but also to help others and see the people happy.”

Hassan’s work with Rowberry coincided with her first breakthroughs in longer distances. On July 13, at the 5,000m Diamond League in Rabat, she finished second in 14:22, running .6 seconds slower than Obiri. It was her best 5,000m to that point, and set a European record.

Nine days later, on July 22, she competed in the Mile at the Diamond League race in London. She won in 4:14, her fastest time to date, and set a national and Diamond League record.

These races demonstrated her fitness. She was ready for her second competitive half marathon, her first since 2011, which she had won by running 1:17.

The race in Copenhagen was competitive. Hassan maintained an aggressive pace, then picked it up. In the 54th minute, she went from a distant second, closing a dozen meters to take the lead over Joan Chelimo Melly. Hassan then let Melly take back the lead so she could draft off her. Within a few minutes, Hassan again burst ahead.

In the video, Hassan seems incredulous. About once per kilometer, she turns herself almost all the way around to see if anyone is behind her.

“My coach told me I was going to run 68 or 69 minutes,” she said. “So to run 65 minutes was very much a surprise.” Hassan had improved her personal best by 12 minutes. She had taken over a minute off the European record, and finished 24 seconds short of a World Record.

Kejelcha finished fourth in the men’s race. The training partners were pushing each other to personal breakthroughs. They were getting stronger and faster. Hassan would apply this increased strength to shorter track events.

2019-07-12: Mile, Diamond League, Monaco

The next year, 2019, started well for Hassan. In her first race, on February 17 in Monaco, she set a 5,000m road record. “After 3km I was slow and I thought, ‘I’m not going to make it,’” she said. “But I pushed at the end, I really sprinted the last 200 meters, and I’m so happy. It’s my first World Record.”

In her next race, on April 7, she won the Generali Half Marathon in Berlin. Her time was 30 seconds slower than Copenhagen, a good result for an early season race.

There were several other races that indicated she was on the verge of something big:

• On May 5, she ran her first competitive race at a new distance, the 10,000m, Payton Jordan Invitational, Palo Alto. She won, and ran fast enough to qualify for the World Championships in September.
• On June 16, in the 1,500m Diamond League in Rabat, she set a national record and finished second to Genzebe Dibaba.
• On June 30, she set a Diamond League record in the 3,000m, Diamond League, Palo Alto.

Hassan was exceeding her expectations every time she ran. This must have been on her mind as she lined up for the Mile in Monaco on July 12. Yomif Kejelcha had broken the indoor mile in Boston on March 3, four months before Hassan’s race in Monaco. She wanted a mile record of her own.

The race in Monaco had pacers, athletes who compete in shorter distances. They run fast at the beginning of the race so the competitors can draft off them, then step off when they tire. Hassan asked them to run fast enough that she would be on Word Record pace when they stepped off. Then it would be up to her.

As usual, Hassan started the race near the back and drifted toward the rail. Rather than settling in, Hassan followed Gabriela DeBues-Stafford as she passed the pack. They tucked in behind the pacer by the time they hit 400m, DeBues-Stafford in second, Hassan in third.

Within half a lap, DeBues-Stafford fell back and Hassan moved past her to follow the pacer. Gudaf Tsegay, who at the time had run the fifth-fastest mile, gave chase. (Hassan’s time from London the year before was the third-fastest.) After the pacer stepped off the track, Tsegay seemed to provide a distraction for Hassan. She looked over her shoulder at her during the third lap. Hassan watched her on the stadium screen when it was in sight. By the bell lap, Hassan and Tsegay had opened a big lead.

With 300 meters to run, Hassan began sprinting. It looked as if Tsegay had set her treadmill speed too high, as if she were sliding backward. Hassan’s move was decisive.

“I knew I could run fast but the first 800 was a bit slow, so after that I wasn’t thinking it would be a World Record,” Hassan said. “When I crossed the line, I was so surprised.”

Her surprise was unmistakable. She seemed renewed, ready to run another race. Someone on the track handed her flowers. She threw them to her fans in the stands.

The record had stood for 23 years. Hassan had focused on breaking it for over two years. It was as if she had taken a bite of her favorite food after forgetting how it tastes.

It’s possible that she had another reason to smile: she may have been a newlywed. In an interview with BBC News, she said she got married in mid-2019 to a man from Wales. The interview was not published in English, and the app I used may have mistranslated. Or she may have been joking with the reporter. I have not found any other source that reports on her marriage.

That was Hassan’s first breakthrough in 2019. It was not her last.

2019-09-28:10,000m Final, World Championships, Doha

This year, 2019, merits a second heading. Setting records before the World Championships increases expectations. Hassan entered the 10,000m and the 1,500m.

The 10,000m took place first. She hugged the inside rail, took the fewest possible steps, saved energy on a hot night in Doha. She jogged near the back for 3,000m, then followed the Kenyans and Ethiopians when they moved to the front. She let 21-year-old Letesenbet Gidey take a big lead with 1,500m left. Then she flew past her on the last lap, looking over her shoulder every dozen steps, and won by 20m. Hassan had competed in exactly one 10,000m race before this one.

A week later, on October 5, Hassan lined up for the 1,500m, Final, World Championships, Doha. After starting at the back, she moved up earlier than usual, taking the lead before the end of the first lap. With three laps still to run, she began looking over her shoulder, as she had in the 10,000m. Breaking character, she ran the race like a time trial, stayed in the front and sprinted to the line. She set a Championship and European record in that race. She almost set a World Record. It remains her personal best 1,500m.

Sifan Hassan was the first runner to win the 10,000m and 1,500m in the same Olympics or World Championships.

She ended her season three weeks later, on October 27. With little rest, she finished second to Senbere Teferi in the Valencia Half Marathon.

It was around this time that the Oregon Project removed Salazar. He was investigated for multiple infractions, including doping violations. In 2021, U.S. Center for SafeSport barred Alberto Salazar for life for sexual assault. These behaviors seem not to have been present in his interactions with Hassan. She stayed with Nike, which continues to be her sponsor. And she stayed in Oregon after the Oregon Project shut down, at least for a few months. At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, Hassan moved back to Europe. (She now splits time between the Netherlands and St Moritz, Switzerland.)

Like all runners, the pandemic limited Hassan’s options. On 2020-09-04, she competed in the One Hour, Diamond League, Brussels in a nearly empty stadium. The race is what it seems. Competitors run around a track for an hour; the winner is the athlete who covers the most distance. Hassan set a World Record, beating then-current marathon record holder, Brigid Kosgei.

A month later, Hassan ran in the 10,000m, FBK After Summer Competition. She broke the European Record that Paula Radcliffe had set in 2002.

The pandemic was a watershed for many runners. It gave us time to focus on training at a time when companies were releasing innovative “super” shoes. Like many athletes, Hassan used the pandemic to get stronger, fitter, and faster.

2021-08-02: 1,500m, Preliminary, Olympics, Tokyo

In 2021, Hassan picked up where she left off. She ran a strong 3,000m in February, and raced twice in May, winning at 5,000m and 800m. These races helped her get ready for her first triumph of the year.

On June 6, at the FBK Games, she broke the 10,000m World Record by 10 seconds. The announcers described her surge toward the finish: “Pushing herself on now. Gritting her teeth. Eking out every last drop of energy that she’s got. Not just to break that World Record, but to really take some seconds off it and make it an insurmountable mark for other people in the future.”

Hassan, surprised and joyful at the finish, looked ready to run another 10K. Or at least a 5K and a 1,500.

She lost that World Record two days later. Letesenbet Gidey improved on Hassan’s record by almost 6 seconds.

Two days after Gidey’s run, four days after her own, Hassan was back on the track. On June 10, she ran the 1,500m, Diamond League, Florence. She went to the front, followed the pacers, and beat Kipyegon and Muir, setting a meet record.

A month later, she had her final race before the Olympics. It was July 9, the 1,500m, Diamond League, Monaco. Hassan went out hard, led most of the race, pushed for a World Record. It was not to be. She was out-kicked by Kipyegon, who set her own personal best, running the fourth-fastest 1,500m. Hassan finished in second place.

Before the Monaco race, the announcer described how Hassan, “said yesterday, ‘I haven’t even quite made up my mind. I was going to do the 5,000–10,000 double at the Olympics. I’m running so well though at 1,500. I love the 1,500. It’s where our heart is,’ if you like. And she says, ‘I might even think about doing all three.’ I think she’s teasing there a little bit.”

I think she’s teasing there a little bit. Not teasing in the sense of foreshadowing. Teasing in the sense of making a joke. No one expected her to run the 10,000m, the 5,000m, and the 1,500m.

When something happens, we tend to believe it was inevitable. Even things we know are extraordinary. No one thought a runner could compete at all three distances in a single Olympics.

Hassan decided to do it. In the Tokyo Olympics, she entered the 1,500m, 5,000m, and 10,000m. If she were to make the finals in all three events, she would have the following schedule:

• July 30: 5,000m qualifying heat
• August 2 (morning): 1,500m qualifying heat
• August 2 (evening): 5,000m Final
• August 4: 1,500m semifinal
• August 6: 1,500m Final
• August 7: 10,000m Final

This is where she was, mentally and physically, in the morning on August 2. She had won her 5,000m qualifying heat two days earlier. She had the 5,000m Final that evening. She needed to save her strength for it if she wanted a place on the podium. She wanted more than top three: she wanted Gold. She hoped it might be the first of three.

That was why she intended to take it easy in the 1,500m qualifying heat. Use it as a way to warm her muscles and calm her nerves.

Instead, it proved to be a stunning, defining race.

Through three laps, she followed her plan. She stayed at the back, drafting, saving her strength. Then she tripped over another runner at the start of the final lap.

Everyone else was kicking. She needed to finish in the top six to advance to the next round. Instead, she had fallen to the track.

Hassan rolled with the fall.

She got up.

She started running.

She passed through the back of the pack. Worked her way into the top six. Seconds after falling, she caught the world’s best 1,500m runners during their kick.

She did not slow down when she reached the lead pack. She continued to accelerate, winning the heat.

She would race again in 12 hours.

Bruised, drained, and wired, she won the 5,000m Final at the Tokyo Olympics. It was the first Track & Field Gold medal for the Netherlands since 1992. “I just want to challenge myself, otherwise I find it boring,” she said. “One distance is nothing, so I just wanted to try it.”

I know a lot of people who hate boredom. They will go to extremes to avoid it. I don’t know anyone who takes it as far as Sifan Hassan. It would not be the last time she went to extremes to avoid boredom.

Four days later, on August 6, Hassan came in third in the 1,500m Final at the Tokyo Olympics. She was angry about the Bronze. “I decided I will die tomorrow,” she said. “I will go to the end.”

The next day, August 7, she won the 10,000m Final at the Tokyo Olympics. She became the first athlete to win medals in three distance events at the same Olympics since Emil Zatopek won Gold in the 5,000m, 10,000m, and Marathon in 1952.

“I thought I was going to pass out. In that moment I didn’t mind about Gold,” she said.

“I just wanted to be alive and healthy.”

2022-07-16: 10,000m, Final, World Championships, Eugene

The Olympic hangover hit Hassan hard. She raced only one time in 2022 before the World Championships. She won that race, a 5K in Portland, OR, eight days before the Championships. The winning time was slow by her standards, more than 50 seconds slower than her personal best.

The 10,000m at the World Championships looked like a replay of her Olympic win. Eleven months later, against an outstanding field, she timed the finish and went to her kick. She took the lead.

Then she was passed by three other runners. Hassan finished off the podium.

“We all have ups and downs,” she said. “I think that’s what makes life beautiful. The falling down, the standing up, everything. If we are perfect, I think it’s just boring.”

A week later, on July 23, the 5,000m, Final, World Championships, Eugene went even worse for Hassan than the 10,000m. She was struggling with motivation.

“In Tokyo, I got my dream, and afterward I didn’t get any excitement from running,” she said. “I needed to come to another chapter to enjoy running again. Once I get what I want, I want to move on and try other things.”

What she would try was a marathon.

2023-10-08: Chicago Marathon

I have structured this essay around a series of videos. I love to watch running videos. They make me cry with empathy and admiration. They motivate me to run when I am tired or overwhelmed. Hassan’s videos are some of my favorites.

As moving as videos can be, they tend to flatten the accomplishments they depict. This is more likely to happen if we, as viewers, have not run the distances. Have not felt a full bore mile in our bodies. The acute agony of an 800. The last hundred meters of a 5K.

To the uninitiated, a marathon can seem boring. How compelling are a bunch of skinny people running together for over two hours?

We can appreciate it on an abstract level. We know they are faster than we are. It is like watching someone take a car engine apart and put it back together. Make dandan noodles from scratch. Release music from a piano. We know that marathons demand expertise. We do not know how to relate to it.

Unless we do. Some of us have logged hundreds of hours and thousands of miles. We have sought the remote vista where our bodies peak without breaking. We have a sense of the anguish and exhilaration.

The marathon’s 26.2 miles is one distance. A single window. Imagine being one of the best jazz and classical pianists in the world at the same time. Being a Michelin chef at French, Indian, and Japanese restaurants. Leading the crews at the Indianapolis 500, Le Mans, and Sebring.

Now compete with the best in the world in the accordion. Bake the cake for a royal wedding. Lead the crew for a Tour de France team.

Hassan started her new season on April 23 with the 2023 London Marathon. It was one of the weirdest and most entertaining marathon debuts. Her leg started to cramp up soon after the halfway point. She stopped to stretch, and it seemed like she may be ready to drop out. Instead, she started running again and caught the leaders a few miles later.

A couple of miles from the end, Hassan noticed that one of the other leaders had gone to the last aid station to pick up her final bottle. Hassan decided to get her bottle, too, cutting across the road to get to the table. The move was so sudden that she surprised the motorcade assigned to protect the leaders. A motorcycle almost hit her.

The race was both honest and tactical. London has a flat course, and the weather was good, so the best runners had fast times. It was tactical in the sense that no one broke the pack. The top 5 runners finished within 20 seconds of each other, the top 3 within 5 seconds.

Hassan won the sprint to the finish, beating a strong field. The defending Olympic champion, Peres Jepchirchir, finished third.

“I want to do marathons, but I really want to stay on the track also. I love the track, this doesn’t change that,” she said. “I am someone who wants everything and wants to be everywhere.”

A reporter asked her if she was the greatest runner in the world. “No, no, I’m not the greatest,” she replied. “I’m just OK. And I don’t need to become the greatest. I’m fine the way I am.”

Five weeks later, she was back on the track. On June 3, she won the 10,000m, FBK Games and on June 4, she won the 1,500m, FBK Games, both in fast times. Seven weeks later, in her fourth race of the year, she finished third on July 23 at the 5,000m, Diamond League, London. It was her final tune up for the 2023 World Championships. Once again, she entered the 10,000m, 5,000m, and 1,500m.

She did not wait long to run another memorable race. August 19 was her first day of competition.

Once again, she started the day with a win in a 1,500m heat. This one was far less eventful than her win after falling in Tokyo two years earlier.

Once again, she had an evening final after running a 1,500m preliminary. This one was 10,000m. It was a hot night in Budapest, so the race was tactical, which helped Hassan. She stayed in the back for most of the race, saving her energy.

As the bell rang for the final lap, she surged to the front. Gudaf Tsegay gave chase, with Letesenbet Gidey and Ejgayehu Taye a few meters back. With 30 meters left in the race, Hassan had a half-meter lead over a surging Tsegay.

And then Hassan stumbled and fell to the track.

There’s no way of knowing what would have happened. With runners this fast and strong, the possibilities feel limitless.

Tsegay maintained her pace and won. Gidey and Taye avoided Hassan and finished second and third.

It was the story of the 10,000, Final, World Championships, Budapest. After showing the finish, a prone Hassan still in frame, the video switches to a close up of Hassan. We do not see Tsegay, Gidey, and Taye celebrate. We see them congratulate Hassan on her race, make sure she is all right. Hassan seems dazed and amused.

Three days later, on August 22, Hassan ran the 1,500m, Final, World Championships, Budapest. She followed her strategy, surging toward the end of the final lap. She could not beat Faith Kipyegon, who became the first athlete to win three Golds in the women’s 1,500m World Championships. Hassan finished third.

Hassan led herself through a marathon workout after the race. “I was thinking about the marathon in my sleep,” she said later.

Four days later, on August 26, Hassan ran the 5,000m, Final, World Championship, Budapest. It was another tactical race. At the bell, she sat on Kipyegon’s shoulder. That’s where she stayed through the end of the race, finishing second. One fall, one Bronze, and one Silver was not the World Championships that Hassan imagined. For almost anyone else, it would have been a triumph. For Hassan, it was a tune up.

She had one more race left in 2023, the Chicago Marathon. She had six weeks after the end of the World Champions to finish preparing.

In retrospect, the 2023 Chicago Marathon will be remembered for Kelvin Kiptum. It was his third and final marathon. He died in a car accident at 24 years old on February 11, 2024.

Kiptum ran like pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis jumps. Each performance hinting at a deeper well of ability. Breaking World Records with precision, they follow their triumphs with immediate, energetic celebrations. It was not a question of whether there was more in the tank. It was a question of how much more. Like Duplantis, Kiptum seemed ready to set incremental records every time he competed.

Hassan’s race was different. She was the last elite runner to board the bus to the starting line that morning. She seemed distracted and disheveled. After London, she knew the horrible algebra. Distance equals rate times time. And time equals pain. The only way to make it stop sooner was to run faster.

She went out fast, following Ruth Chepngetich, who had won the Chicago Marathon a year earlier. Chepngetich’s 2022 time was the third fastest marathon. She had finished 14 seconds slower than the course record, set by Brigid Kosgei in 2019. Chepngetich intended to break the course record in 2023. That meant running the fastest or second-fastest marathon ever.

Following three male pacers, Chepngetich and Hassan ran the first 10,000m in 31:05. This pace is very, very fast. Only one American has run this fast in a women’s road 10K race (Shalane Flanagan did it twice). Hassan and Chepngetich still had more than three quarters of the race ahead of them, about 20 miles.

At the half, 13.1 miles in, both were still ahead of World Record pace. Chepngetich ran 1:05;42. Hassan was 6 seconds behind her.

This is exactly the race Hassan does not run. She saves her energy.

Except when there is no other choice. It must have felt that way in Chicago.

She ran the 16th mile in exactly 5 minutes. As a competition, the race was over. Chepngetich fell behind and never got close again. Hassan won by almost 2 minutes. For Hassan, the race was with herself. To see how fast she could reach the finish.

“The last five kilometers,” she said, “I was telling myself, ‘Never again.’” Her form broke down in the last kilometer. She gritted her teeth, bobbed her head. “She is digging deep,” former American record holder in the marathon and half-marathon Keira D’Amato said on the live coverage. “I am getting emotional seeing how hard she is pushing.”

She finished in 2:13:44, the second-fastest marathon. She broke the course record by 20 seconds. Unlike Kiptum, her celebration was not immediate. She had given everything. It took her over a minute to collect herself.

Then, like Kiptum, her celebration was energetic. She threw her arms in the air and yelled. She ran to the finish line crowd to thank them and accept their congratulations. She exulted in her accomplishment. In the joy and unburdening.

Postscript and Preview: 2024 Olympics

Hassan has raced one more marathon since Chicago. There are six World Marathon Majors: Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, New York, and Tokyo. They are a bit like the World Series in baseball, which can last up to seven games. They also resemble the Super Bowl, a heavyweight title fight, or a tennis Grand Slam event. The marathon is so demanding that elite runners can only compete in a couple each year. Some can handle three. Some are better off limiting it to one.

Before Tokyo, Hassan had run two marathons. Both were Majors. She had won both of them.

She entered the Tokyo Marathon as something of a favorite and something of a curiosity. All she did was win.

It didn’t seem possible. It wasn’t. She finished fourth, over a minute away from third. It was not close. The top three dropped Hassan about 18 miles into the race, almost 8 miles from the finish. Hassan did not have a fun morning in Tokyo.

Not that it was a bad race. It was Hassan’s second-fastest marathon, almost 30 seconds faster than London. Kiptum will remain undefeated in the marathon. Everyone else will be lucky enough to lose.

In 2024, after Tokyo, she has competed in the 5,000m three times and in a single 1,500m. The next big event in Track & Field is the 2024 Olympics in Paris. Hassan has not announced what she will run. She could try the 10K, 5K, 1,500m again. She could run the marathon. She could try to match Zatopek in the marathon, 10K, and 5K.

No matter what she chooses, she will face the fastest runners of all time (through 2024-06-19):

• 1,500m
  • Faith Kipyegon holds the World Record, set in 2023.
  • Gudaf Tsegay ran the third fastest time on 2024-04-20.
  • Hassan has the twelfth fastest time at this distance.
• 5,000m
  • Gudaf Tsegay holds the World Record, set in 2023.
  • Faith Kipyegon had set the record two months earlier and has the second-fastest time.
  • Beatrice Chebet ran the third-fastest time in the race where Tsegay set the record.
  • Letesenbet Gidey has the fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-fastest times.
  • Hassan has the fifteenth fastest time at this distance.
• 10,000m
  • Beatrice Chebet holds the World Record, set in May 2024.
  • Letesenbet Gidey had the previous record, set in 2021.
  • Gudaf Tsegay ran the third-fastest time in the race where Chebet set the record.
  • Hassan has the fourth,- eleventh-, and twelfth-fastest times at this distance.
• Marathon
  • Tigst Assefa holds the World Record in the marathon and has won Berlin twice.
  • Amane Beriso Shankule is the defending World Champion and has run the fifth fastest time.
  • Peres Jepchirchir is the defending Olympic champion. She has won Boston, London, and New York.
  • Brigid Kosgei has the third-fastest marathon time. She won Silver in the last Olympics, and has won Chicago twice, London twice, and Tokyo once.
  • Hellen Obiri won the most recent New York Marathon and the last two Boston Marathons.
  • Hassan has the second-fastest time at this distance and has won Chicago and London.

The Wikipedia entry for the Netherlands at the 2024 Summer Olympics lists Hassan as eligible for the 1,500m, 5,000m, 10,000m, and Marathon. She will be 31 during the Games, at the peak of her career. Hassan chose not to compete in the 2024 World Cross Country Championships. She should be healthy and rested for Paris.

For most people, in most situations, we have some idea what to expect. For Sifan Hassan, at least for her running, we have no idea. Guessing what events she will run is where we start. Imagining what she might do is boggling. Seeing her do it is incomparable.

Sources

BBC News Afaan Oromoo. “Atileet Sifan Hassan fiigicha fageenya 10,000m rikkardii addunyaa harka galfatte,” December 7, 2019. https://www.bbc.com/afaanoromoo/oduu-50669408.

Brink, Cors van den. “Een Edammertje Voor de Atlete Uit Nazareth.” Atletiek Week, November 24, 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20180723003629/http://www.atletiekweek.nl/2013/11/24/een-edammertje-voor-de-atlete-uit-nazareth/.

Cullum, Barney. “Sifan Hassan: No Regrets over Quitting Ethiopia and Calls for Peace.” BBC Sport, August 11, 2021, sec. Sport Africa. https://www.bbc.com/sport/africa/58159734.

DiCaro, Julie. “Sifan Hassan Is a Marvel on the Track or on the Street.” Deadspin, October 8, 2023. https://deadspin.com/sifan-hasan-chicago-marathon-record-1850910666.

France 24. “Sifan Hassan – the Iron Lady of Athletics,” April 23, 2023. https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230423-sifan-hassan-the-iron-lady-of-athletics.

Germano, Sara. “Sifan Hassan Chases Athletics History with Tokyo Olympics Treble Attempt.” Accessed February 19, 2024. https://www.ft.com/content/91c39995-7e4c-4d01-a248-e55e764153b5.

Hamilton, Tom. “Six Races in Eight Days: Dutch Track Star Sifan Hassan’s Quest for an Improbable Treble – and Olympic History.” ESPN.com, August 5, 2021. https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/31960301/olympics-2021-dutch-track-star-sifan-hassan-quest-improbable-treble-olympic-history.

Hassan, Sarah. “Sifan Hassan’s Journey to Olympic Glory from the Hardship of a Teenage Refugee.” The National, August 11, 2021. https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/2021/08/11/sifan-hassans-journey-to-olympic-glory-from-the-hardship-of-a-teenage-refugee/.

Henson, Mike. “Sifan Hassan: Dutch Distance Runner Reflects on Epic Olympic Campaign and 2022 Plans.” BBC Sport, January 4, 2022, sec. Athletics. https://www.bbc.com/sport/athletics/59848002.

Huber, Martin Fritz. “What’s Sifan Hassan’s Secret? Restlessness.” Women’s Running (blog), August 29, 2023. https://www.womensrunning.com/culture/people/whats-sifan-hassans-secret-restlessness/.

Ingle, Sean. “London Marathon: Sifan Hassan Stops Twice and Dodges Bike in Dramatic Win.” The Guardian, April 23, 2023, sec. Sport. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/apr/23/london-marathon-sifan-hassan-kelvin-kiptum-race-report-athletics.

Jeffery, Nicole. “Wanders and Hassan Set World 5km Records in Monaco.” Report: World Athletics, February 17, 2019. https://worldathletics.org/news/report/wanders-hassan-world-record-5km-monaco.

Kuzma, Cindy. “Sifan Hassan Wins Women’s Race at the 2023 Chicago Marathon.” Runner’s World, October 8, 2023. https://www.runnersworld.com/races-places/a45444172/chicago-marathon-2023-womens-winner/.

Landells, Steve. “Hassan and Kejelcha: Training Partners and Mile World Record Holders | FEATURE | World Athletics.” Accessed February 19, 2024. https://worldathletics.org/news/feature/sifan-hassan-yomif-kejelcha.

McAlister, Sean. “Sifan Hassan’s Reflections on a Rollercoaster Life: ‘If You Don’t Give up, I Know There Are Going to Be Bright and Beautiful Things.’” Olympics.com, December 11, 2023. https://olympics.com/en/news/sifan-hassans-reflections-rollercoaster-life-sport.

Rowbottom, Mike. “Hassan Breaks World Mile Record in Monaco with 4:12.33—IAAF Diamond League.” Accessed February 19, 2024. https://worldathletics.org/news/report/hassan-breaks-mile-world-record-in-monaco.

“Sifan Hassan.” In Wikipedia, January 3, 2024. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sifan_Hassan&oldid=1193390898.

“Sifan Hassan, Profile, World Athletics.” Accessed February 19, 2024. https://worldathletics.org/athletes/netherlands/sifan-hassan-14489606.

Whittington, Jess. “Kiptum Charges to 2:01:25 Triumph, Hassan Stuns on Marathon Debut in London.” Accessed February 19, 2024. https://worldathletics.org/news/report/kelvin-kiptum-sifan-hassan-london-marathon.