Falls gold for Hassan on a day of downs and ups
SIFAN HASSAN had one of the most remarkable days ever witnessed on an Olympic track as she won 5,000metres gold after falling – and still qualifying in first place – during her 1500m heat.
The Dutchwoman, who is aiming for an unprecedented 1500m, 5,000m and 10,000m treble in Tokyo, produced a devastating final-lap sprint to take 5,000m gold in 14 minutes, 36.79 seconds.
‘Without coffee I would never be Olympic champion,’ she joked, having started the day by falling on the last lap of her 1500m heat, only to get up and charge through the field to finish first. ‘It has been an amazing day. When I fell down and had to jump up I felt like I was using so much energy. Before the race here, I didn’t even care. I was so tired.’
Hassan returned to the track in the evening and was in total control of a slow 5,000m final before unleashing her trademark last-lap burst. Kenyan Hellen Obiri held her for half a lap but slipped back and had to settle for a second successive Olympic silver over the distance. Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay took bronze.
Hassan’s success has underlined the scale of the task facing British medal hope Laura Muir.
The pair are in the same 1500m semi-final tomorrow, with the Dutch athlete able to enjoy the luxury of a day off from competing today. The pair will line up against each other after Muir qualified second from her heat behind Canada’s Gabriela DeBues-Stafford, the Briton clocking 4min 3.89sec.
The European champion said: ‘You don’t want to have any disrespect to any of the girls out here but I want to save as much as I can for the final. It’s gone as smooth as it could be – I’ve been out in Japan for a couple of weeks now so feeling really prepared and it’s really good.
‘It didn’t feel that fast. I just wanted to qualify as comfortably as possible.’ Muir’s British team-mate Katie Snowden also progressed in a new personal best of 4:02.77 but Revee Walcott-Nolan missed out on a place in the semis by just 0.01sec.