Muhammad, McLaughlin on track for 400 hurdles showdown

McLaughlin, on the other hand, had only had one slight problem with the downpour.

“I wish I had some waterproof mascara on my eyes but other than that it was OK,” she said.

McLaughlin and Muhammad’s night was more than just OK.

Muhammad, the reigning Olympic and World champion, seemed untaxed as she won the evening’s first semifinal in 53.30, a time just off her winning mark five years ago in Rio de Janeiro (53.13).

“I definitely needed to do what I needed to do to get to the final and put on a show,” Muhammad said.

If anything McLaughlin’s 53.03 effort in the second semi seemed even easier as the Olympic Trials winner shut it down with about 70 meters remaining.

All of which suggests one of them could break the world record of 51.90 set by McLaughlin at the Trials and still not win Wednesday’s “show.”

“I want to improve on that race at the Trials,” McLaughlin said. “So let’s see how fast I can go.”

McLaughlin could have just as easily been talking about Hassan’s approach to distances ranging from 1,500 meters to the halfmarathon the last three years.

She set the European Half Marathon record (1:05:15) in Copenhagen in 2018. A year later she broke the 23-yearold world record in the mile, clocking 4:12.33 in a Diamond League meet in Monaco. Hassan continued to add to her record collection on June 6, taking down the 10,000 world record with a 29:06.82 run in Hengelo, Netherlands. (Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey lowered the record to 29:01.03 two days later on the same track.)

But for all her success, Hassan is also no stranger to adversity.

She was born in Ethiopia. She was 15 when her mother put her on a plane to the Netherlands to seek political asylum. A year later she was granted refugee resident status.

“Where is my home?” Hassan told a Dutch media outlet in 2019. “Sometimes I don’t know that myself.”

She relocated again in 2016, this time to Beaverton, Oregon, to train as part of the Nike Oregon Project under Alberto Salazar, the New York City and Boston marathons winner.

Hassan won the 10,000 at the 2019 Worlds in Doha in only her second attempt at the distance. But three days later the U.S. AntiDoping Agency banned Salazar for four years for violations related to banned substances, prohibited infusion methods and attempting to thwart doping controls. She would have to win the 1,500 without her coach.

Hassan did just that, taking the final in a World Championship record 3:51.95 and one of the biggest blowouts ever in a major international final, finishing more than two seconds ahead of runner-up Faith Kipyegon (3:54.22).

Hassan initially stayed in the U.S. after the Salazar ban, training with coach Tim Rowberry. But the pandemic forced her to return to Europe where she splits her time between training in the Netherlands and at altitude in St. Moritz, Switzerland.

“Contact is by telephone, via Whatsapp,” she told a Dutch website, referring to her working relationship with Rowberry. “It’s all pretty strange. The world seems a bit crazy.”

Hassan’s world took another strange turn Monday night when the field inexplicably failed to make her pay for double duty with a fast early pace. Instead, Kenya’s Hellen Obiri led the leaders past 1,600 in 4:48, 3,200 in 9:36.

When the bell rang with a lap remaining the only questions left were when would Hassan drop the other six runners in the lead group and how much would she win by?

The first answer came shortly thereafter, Hassan surging into a 57.79 final 400 giving her a comfortable margin over Obiri (14:38.36).

She threw her arms out wide as she crossed the finish line, a gesture of celebration and relief.

“I am the Olympic champion,” she said. “How is this possible?”

She now turns her attention to Wednesday’s 1,500 semifinal, the event’s final Friday and the 10,000 a day later. If all goes to plan, Hassan will run more than 15 miles of races in nine days in Tokyo.

On Monday she completed more than four of those 15 miles, more than 16 laps on the Olympic Stadium track.