Sifan Hassan Dutch track and field athlete of Ethiopian descent Date of Birth: 01.01.1993 Country: Netherlands

1. Early Life and Immigration
2. Running Career
3. Breakthrough Season and Dutch Citizenship
4. 2014 Season and World Championships
5. 2016 Summer Olympics
6. 2018 Season and European Records
7. 2019 Season and World Records
8. 2019 Herculis Mile World Record
9. 2019 IAAF World Championships in Doha
10. 2020 Tokyo Olympics

Early Life and Immigration

Sifan Hassan was born in Adam, Oromia, Ethiopia, and grew up in the rural countryside of Kersa in the Munessa district of the Arsi Zone in Oromia. She left Ethiopia as a refugee and arrived in the Netherlands in 2008 at the age of fifteen.

Running Career

Hassan began her running career while studying to become a nurse. Affiliated with Eindhoven Atletiek, she competed in the 2011 Eindhoven Half Marathon and won the race with a time of 77:10 minutes. She also placed second in two cross-country races (Sylvestercross and Mol Lotto Cross Cup). She won these races in 2012, as well as the 3000 m at the Leiden Gouden Spike competition.

Breakthrough Season and Dutch Citizenship

Hassan had a breakthrough season in 2013. She ran a personal best of 2:00.86 minutes in the 800 meters to win at the KBC Night of Athletics and gained victories in the 1500 meters at the Nijmegen Global Athletics and Golden Spike Ostrava competitions. On the 2013 IAAF Diamond League circuit, she finished second in the 1500 m at Athletissima with a personal best of 4:03.73 minutes and was third in the DN Galan 3000 m with a personal best of 8:32.53 minutes—a time that ranked her as the fourth fastest runner in the world that year. Hassan became a Dutch citizen in November 2013, 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 a third-place finish. She also won the Warandeloop and Lotto Cross Cup Brussels races that winter.

2014 Season and World Championships

In early 2014, she set a world-leading time of 8:45.32 minutes for the 3000 m at Weltklasse in Karlsruhe, then broke the Dutch indoor 1500 m record with a time of 4:05.34 minutes at the Birmingham Grand Prix Indoor. At the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, Hassan won the bronze medal in the 1500 meters. She became the second Dutch female athlete to ever win a medal at the World Championships, after Dafne Schippers. She became the third Dutch winner at the 2015 European Cross Country Championships, following in the footsteps of fellow African migrants Hilda Kibet and Lornah Kiplagat.

2016 Summer Olympics

Sifan Hassan won her 1500 m heat at the 2016 Summer Olympics in 4:06.64, ahead of Faith Kipyegon. In the semi-final, she finished second with a time of 4:03.62, behind Genzebe Dibaba who won in 4:03.06. In the final, Kipyegon took the Olympic gold medal with a time of 4:08.92, Dibaba secured the silver medal with a time of 4:10.27, and Jenny Simpson won the bronze medal with a time of 4:10.53. Hassan finished in fifth place with a time of 4:11.23. She finished 5th in the 1500 meters at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics and also won a bronze medal in the 5000 meters.

2018 Season and European Records

On July 13, 2018, she broke the European record for the 5000 meters by finishing second at the Rabat Diamond League meeting in a time of 14:22.34. Hassan (right) with Faith Kipyegon and Genzebe Dibaba at the medal ceremony during the 2015 World Championships in Beijing. She won the inaugural Mile of Millicent Fawcett at the Anniversary Games in London in 2018 in a time of 4:14.71, the fourth-fastest time at the time. She won the gold medal at the 2018 European Championships in a time of 14:46:12, setting a new championship record. On September 16, 2018, she broke the European record for the half-marathon with a time of 65:15, winning the Copenhagen Half Marathon.

2019 Season and World Records

On February 17, 2019, Hassan set the world record for the 5 km road race in Monaco. Her winning time was 14:44. Hassan was the 2019 Diamond League winner in both the 1500 m and 5000 m. She is a training partner of Yomif Kejelcha.

Hassan set the world record in the women's 10,000 meters on June 6, 2021, with a time of 29:06.82 at Hengelo, but lost the record two days later when Letesenbet Gidey ran 29:01.03 at the same stadium. She retains the European record for the distance, set on October 10, 2020.

2019 Herculis Mile World Record

On July 12, 2019, Hassan competed in the mile at the Herculis meeting in Fontvieille, Monaco. The pace was set by Olga Lyakhova, who led through the first two laps (measured from the starting line, not the quarter-mile mark) in 64.26 and 63.94 (2:08.20). As is typical, Hassan started at the back of the field but steadily passed the field on the outside over the next 150 meters, taking up a position behind Lyakhova. Gabriele DeBues-Stafford soon came through the field between Hassan and Lyakhova on the following lap before Hassan and Gudaf Tsegay moved out of the field as the only chasers. From 800 to 1000 m, Lyakhova tried to stay in touch, but Hassan and Tsegay were moving steadily away. Once Lyakhova had been dropped, they were 15 meters ahead of the pack. At 1200 meters, Hassan opened up a gap to Tsegay, her nearest challenger, of 3:10.13 (a lap of 61.93). Hassan accelerated, opening up a 5-meter gap over the next 100 meters. Continuing at a similar pace, she passed 1500 meters in approximately 3:55. Hassan covered the last 409.344 meters in 62.20, for a final time of 4:12:33, beating Svetlana Masterkova's world record which had stood for almost 23 years. The athletes behind Hassan rewrote the all-time top 25 list, with Laura Weightman moving up to 15th, DeBues-Stafford to 17th, and, after Tsegay in 5th had faded into the pack, Rababe Arafi, Axumawit Embaye, Winny Nanyondo, and Ciara Mageean moving to positions #20–23.

2019 IAAF World Championships in Doha

On September 28, she became the 2019 World Champion in the 10000 meters in the second heat ever run over the distance. Her first-ever race over 10,000 meters had come in Stanford, where she ran 31:18.12, quick enough to achieve the qualifying standard for the 2019 World Championships. The winning time of 30:17.62 was the fastest time of the year on the track. Alina Reh (Germany) led after 3000 meters in 9:29.69. The field reached halfway at 15:32.70. Letesenbet Gidey finished with 30:21.23 and Agnes Tirop (Kenya) took third place with 30:25.50. The second half of the race was covered in 14:45. She also won the 1500 meters in a time of 3:51.95 (the sixth-fastest 1500 meters time in history), setting a new championship and European record. Faith Kipyegon was second in a time of 3:54.22, a new Kenyan national record, while Gudaf Tsegay took the bronze medal with a time of 3:54.38.

2020 Tokyo Olympics

Hassan won the gold in the women's 5000 meters and 10,000 meters at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She also won bronze in the women's 1500 meters. She is the only female athlete ever to win medals in the 1500-, 5000-, and 10,000-meter runs at the same Olympics. Her winning time was 14