Running News Daily

Sifan Hassan not ruling out Tokyo treble

Back in the stadium where she broke the mile world record in 2019 before her world title double in Doha, Sifan Hassan revealed that she had not ruled out targeting a treble in Tokyo.

The Dutch 28-year-old ran 4:12.33 for the mile at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Monaco a couple of months before winning 1500m and 10,000m gold in an unprecedented performance at the World Athletics Championships.

At the Herculis EBS meeting on Friday (9) she will be hoping for another confidence-boosting run at the Stade Louis II stadium – this time in the 1500m – as she prepares for the Olympic Games, where she is entered for the 1500m, 5000m and 10,000m.

Hassan had originally said that the 5000m and 10,000m would be her target in Tokyo, but running 3:53.63 to win the 1500m at the Golden Gala in Florence last month convinced her to keep her options open.

“I had decided to do the 5000m and 10,000m, but when I ran 3:53 something inside of me – the love of 1500m – came back,” explained Hassan, speaking at a press conference on the eve of the Herculis EBS. “I want to keep everything until the last moment because I just want flexibility.

“I say life is not about medals, it is not about gold, it is also about history. I made the decision to run the 1500m (in Doha) even though I didn’t know if it was possible because nobody before had done it (the 1500m-10,000m double).”

Hassan has already made history this year by running 29:06.82 to break the world 10,000m record at the FBK Games in Hengelo. That time took more than 10 seconds off the 29:17.45 Almaz Ayana had run to win Olympic gold in Rio but Letesenbet Gidey went even faster just two days later, running 29:01.03 on the same Hengelo track.

“I just went fast in the last kilometre and I still managed to run a world record, 10 seconds off, and I was very happy,” said Hassan. “But I was also happy that it was broken after two days because I want the 10,000m to become exciting and for me it also gives me more motivation to work hard. I know the Games is not going to be easy.”