EUGENE (Agencies): Double Olympic gold medallist Sifan Hassan missed out on the 5,000m world record at the Prefontaine Classic – her first meet since Tokyo 2020.
The 5,000m and 10,000m Olympic champion was aiming to beat the record set by Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey in 2020.
Hassan, of the Netherlands, won easily in 14 minutes 27.89 seconds but failed to beat Gidey’s record of 14:06.62. “The last two laps, I knew I wasn’t going to break the record,” said Hassan, who won three medals in Tokyo.
Cheered on by a crowd of more than 5,000 in Eugene, Oregon, Senbere Teferi finished second with a time of 14:42.25 and her Ethiopian compatriot Fantu Worku came in third with 14:42.85. Despite missing out on the world record, Ethiopia-born Hassan, 28, still recorded a season best after an intense summer of competition that included six races at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
“I just want to finish strong and run hard,” she continued. “I had a really tough two weeks at the Olympics. All the emotion with the media and the stress. I’m in shape but I’m just tired, I’m not fresh.”
As well as winning the 5,000m and 10,000m titles at Tokyo 2020, Hassan also earned a bronze medal in the 1500m event. It meant she became the first person to win Olympic medals over 1500m, 5,000m and 10,000m. Hassan, who currently holds the world record in the mile, also won gold medals in the 1500m and 10,000m at the 2019 World Championships and in June broke the 10,000m record with a time of 29:06.82 – only for Ethiopia’s Gidey to improve on that time by five seconds just two days later.
