Even with global all-time best in 5-kilometer road race and mile world record for the Dutch star, one of her five personal bests on the track this year, the greatest achievements might still be yet to come from Hassan in Doha

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Even after a 2018 schedule in which Sifan Hassan won the gold medal in the 5,000 meters at the European Championships, added another title in the 3,000 meters at the Continental Cup and earned two additional medals at the World Indoor Championships, Alberto Salazar, her Nike Oregon Project coach, had this assessment a year ago prior to the Dutch star competing at the Copenhagen Half Marathon.

“We are still working on her technique. The biomechanics are still not where they would hope (to be),” Salazar said. “I believe there is still a lot of improvement for Sifan.”

The continued development this year of the most versatile female distance runner in the sport has seen Hassan set a world record in the mile and produce a global all-time best in a 5-kilometer road race, both in Monaco, along with running personal bests on the track in five events ranging from 1,500 to 10,000 meters, in addition to becoming the first athlete in Diamond League history to win the 1,500 and 5,000 titles in the same year.

But for all of her memorable achievements during the past seven months, a great deal of focus during the IAAF World Outdoor Championships in Doha, Qatar, will be not only on which two events she chooses to run for the Netherlands, but also on whether Hassan can finally capture her first global outdoor title.

“It’s been an amazing year this year,” Hassan said. “I just hope I can keep going.”

Although Hassan, 26, has captured gold in the 1,500 at the 2016 World Indoor Championships in Oregon, her past two appearances at the global outdoor meet have resulted in bronze medals, first in the 1,500 in 2015 in Beijing and in the 5,000 in 2017 in London. She also placed fifth in the 1,500 at the 2016 Olympics.

With the 10-day schedule in Doha making it impossible for Hassan to attempt the 1,500 and 5,000 double – the heats for both events are Wednesday, with the finals for both run as back-to-back races Oct. 5 – she is likely to compete Saturday in the 10,000 final and then decide on a second event following its conclusion.

Fellow Nike Oregon Project athletes Konstanze Klosterhalfen of Germany and Jessica Hull of Australia, both coached by Pete Julian, are entered in the 1,500. Klosterhalfen, who placed second Aug. 29 behind Hassan in the Diamond League 1,500 final in Zurich, is also entered in the 5,000, but she, too, will have to decide on one event or the other.

“Because I started my (track) training very late (in early March), it actually doesn’t matter (in making the decision),” Hassan said. “It’s actually good for me that the World Championships are later.”

Following her 14:44 world all-time best in the 5-kilometer road race in February, Hassan took a break to visit family in her native Ethiopia. She moved to the Netherlands in 2008, but didn’t acquire Dutch citizenship until November 2013 and won the first international title representing her new country the following month at the European U-23 Cross Country Championships in Serbia.

After resuming training in March, Hassan competed in a half marathon in April in Berlin, clocking 65:45 – 30 seconds off her personal best from last year in Denmark – and then ran a lifetime-best 31:18.12 in the 10,000 meters May 2 at the Payton Jordan Invitational at Stanford University.

Although she observed Ramadan from May 5 to June 3 – the most important month of the year in the Muslim calendar – Hassan still continued to train and even competed in a pair of 1,500 races in China, despite having to abstain from eating or drinking during daylight hours.

“If you believe in it, you just do it,” Hassan said. “It just makes you more self-disciplined and you have a stronger mentality.”

In her seven races since the conclusion of Ramadan, Hassan has placed in the top three in all of them, including victories at four separate distances, highlighted by the 4:12.33 mile performance July 12 in her return to Monaco. She eclipsed the 1996 world record of 4:12.56 held by Russia’s Svetlana Masterkova.

“Sifan is insanely fit and talented, but she works harder than anyone I’ve ever seen, as does Koko,” Hull said. “Her splits are unbelievable, but she’s working hard to do it, it doesn’t come easy just because it’s Sifan and it’s been eye-opening to see that in person. She’s running a lot faster than anything I can compare to, but it’s refreshing to see that it’s still hard for her.”

Exactly how challenging will it be in Doha remains to be seen, even for an athlete the caliber of Hassan, who, in addition to the mile, is also the world leader this year in the 1,500 (3:55.30) and 3,000 (8:18.49), along with ranking second in the 5,000 (14:22.12) and 10th in the 10,000.

No athlete has ever medaled in both the 1,500 and 10,000 in the same year, with only Ethiopia’s Tirunesh Dibaba in 2005 and Kenya’s Vivian Cheruiyot in 2011 achieving the women’s 5,000 and 10,000 double at the same World Championships.

The last European female athlete to medal in the 10,000 at the World Championships was Great Britain’s Jo Pavey securing bronze in 2007. The last women’s gold medalist was Portugal’s Fernanda Ribeiro in 1995, one of only three earned in the 10,000 by a European female competitor in meet history.

Hassan is already the most recent European medalist at the World Championships in both the women’s 1,500 and 5,000.

“I want to do everything because I want to see what I can run. It’s just beautiful to go into everything and surprise myself, or sometimes, cry about it. But I’m happy because I’m still surprising myself,” Hassan said. “I’m just excited that I’m continuing to improve every race.”

But after preparing with her fellow Nike Oregon Project teammates at a recent altitude training camp near 6,000 feet elevation in Saint Moritz, Switzerland, it won’t be any surprise to Hull if Hassan pulls off a memorable distance double in Doha, regardless of the events she chooses.

Even competing in the open-air Khalifa International Stadium, it appears there is no ceiling for what Hassan can accomplish this time around at the World Championships.

“I’ve watched her do some incredible things in workouts that have left me mind-blown, but at the same time, it’s shown me that she’s still human,” Hull said. “Sometimes it’s hard from the first rep, but there’s no question if she’s going to do it. Her work ethic and ability to grind through discomfort is incredible.”