Sifan Hassan goes home DEVASTATED!

Hassan ran 1:58.5 and 3:56.05 before Salazar and had won a global bronze and two European medals in 2014 and 2015. I can agree that some her performances last year were incredible but she was among the world's top 3 1500m runners before NOP and during 2016-18 her improvement was mainly on the longer distances and quite credible.

zxczxcv wrote:

. Remember that Al Sal specialized in the gray-zone, not the illegal.

I'm not very knowledgeable on American law, but if I remember correct there were some questions around smuggling stuff in hollowed out books and handing out medicine to people without prescriptions.

THOUGHTSLEADER wrote:

Only one of the five Ethiopians (Gidey) ran near their top level.

Totally get what you’re saying and to this point, I can’t really argue. I do have a feeling that, fine as her performance was, Gidey was only at 75-80% fitness yesterday. I’m in the camp that sees her threatening the 5k/10k records on the track in the next couple years—yesterday just wasn’t the time for her, and COVID may have played into that.

Shout out to Obiri, who’s definitely under appreciated around here but almost always wins when it matters.

I knew Obiri would win and I was very doubtful of Sifan.

I was right in both.

Obiri and Kipyegon are great! Kipyegon is back (and I don't want to derail this thread....it was about Sifan).

Kipyegon has her grove back and everyone needs to be worried.

Obiri is getting up there in age but she's still the best.

Gidey and Ayana are more or less the same athlete. Obiri knows them and their strategy and with good training, cannot be moved by either.

Gidey is very good all the same.

douglas burke wrote:

14:52 talent without Salazar LOL, if she decided to finish she would have been under 14:40

Hold on what's your logic here? But she was with Salazar. She was coached by him right up until he was banned from the sport? Even if she decided to finish and ran under 14.40 she was still coached by an unethical scumbag who was banned from the sport and it was his coaching and whatever else they were doing that pushed her to a 1500/10000m double at the worlds and 3.51/4.12/14.22?

So what exactly is your point?

Not saying Hassan is not doping, but the difference between Dibaba and Hassan is even after the near-bust, Dibaba continued to run well indoor and early outdoor season. (Probably doping in the off-season.) But getting deeper into the outdoor season, Dibaba would run worse and worse. (Likely had to stop doping because of in Europe she would be tested.) In the World Championships last year she ran poorly. This has been Dibaba's pattern for years. Hassan doesn't exhibit this performance dropoff throughout the season. Even when tested, she runs well. If she's doping, she's doing something different than Dibaba.

Let's not forget that she was the only Dutch runner on the leaked Likely Doping List in 2016. Well before joining Salazar.

Jo72 wrote:

Hassan ran 1:58.5 and 3:56.05 before Salazar and had won a global bronze and two European medals in 2014 and 2015. I can agree that some her performances last year were incredible but she was among the world's top 3 1500m runners before NOP and during 2016-18 her improvement was mainly on the longer distances and quite credible.

Which is almost exactly what her natural level is - very similar to Genzebe Bibaba's natural level.

But we seem to be forgetting here that Hassan ran 3min51.95 at the end of a World Championships in which she won the 10000m which probably suggests she was capable of very close to WR in a race such as a Monaco. So sure she was close to the top of womens 1500m running at 3min56 but that's because the top of womens 1500m running sits at about 3min55 seconds (Houlihan, Muir etc) - not 3min50.1 like Dibaba or 3min51.95 (in a championship race) like Hassan.

Don't quite get your point about improvement over longer distances at NOP. That's typically what happens when you start "grey zoning" your hematocrit levels, "grey zoning" with thyroid medication, asthma drugs, testosterone etc. Last time I checked making big improvements at longer distances typically tends to translate into some performance benefit over shorter distances too?

Jo72 wrote:

Hassan ran 1:58.5 and 3:56.05 before Salazar and had won a global bronze and two European medals in 2014 and 2015. I can agree that some her performances last year were incredible but she was among the world's top 3 1500m runners before NOP and during 2016-18 her improvement was mainly on the longer distances and quite credible.

3:56 before...now 3:59 at the end of a 10k? C’mon, man.

It was hot for a 5K. Just wasn't her day.

Hot for a 5K wrote:

It was hot for a 5K. Just wasn't her day.

True, no good performances over 5000m were recorded in Monaco...

She also struggled in Doha with the heat...

This has to be the worst thought out "justification" of all time. Kudos.

Jeeez... just checked the splits of that last 1500m (after 21 laps at ~4.55/mile pace in Doha).

3:59!

https://media.aws.iaaf.org/competitiondocuments/pdf/6033/AT-10K-W-f--1--.RS5.pdf?v=-1113301395

No doubt she did something fishy during 2019 to achieve that new level of fitness.

It will be interesting if she races again this summer or even gives a comment about Monaco.

I can't see her doing that 1 hour record at Brussells now the shoes have been banned.

Having recently raced in that stadium i can tell you that track is rock hard!

Salvitore Stitchmo wrote:

Hot for a 5K wrote:

It was hot for a 5K. Just wasn't her day.

True, no good performances over 5000m were recorded in Monaco...

She also struggled in Doha with the heat...

This has to be the worst thought out "justification" of all time. Kudos.

Some athletes have off days. It was hot and humid for a fast 5K. No problem. Just wasn't this great runner's day. In this COVID year without a predictable competition schedule things didn't go her way at Monaco but that doesn't detract from her being a great runner.

Les wrote:

Not saying Hassan is not doping, but the difference between Dibaba and Hassan is even after the near-bust, Dibaba continued to run well indoor and early outdoor season. (Probably doping in the off-season.) But getting deeper into the outdoor season, Dibaba would run worse and worse. (Likely had to stop doping because of in Europe she would be tested.) In the World Championships last year she ran poorly. This has been Dibaba's pattern for years. Hassan doesn't exhibit this performance dropoff throughout the season. Even when tested, she runs well. If she's doping, she's doing something different than Dibaba.

Dibaba didn't run at worlds last year. She was injured. And all the morons on this board who think this race proves Hassan was doping are retarded. Her coach said her training has been problematic, at best. But never mind. This one bad result proves she was doping. Carry on.

bladerunner wrote:

Dibaba didn't run at worlds last year. She was injured. And all the morons on this board who think this race proves Hassan was doping are retarded. Her coach said her training has been problematic, at best. But never mind. This one bad result proves she was doping. Carry on.

+1

ShilohDoesntCare wrote:

I watched the race after it ended. It was strange as around 3600 or so Gidey and Obiri formed a gap on Weightman and then Hassan bridged the gap only to immediately drop out at 4k when she was still in contention. Hassan looked like she was hurting bad at 3800 when they did a closeup of her but Weightman was not looking comfortable either. Great race by many of the women. AR by Hull, Rowberry ran well also.

Changed it so you were more correct. Old AR held by a NZer.

Aussiestatman wrote:

ShilohDoesntCare wrote:

I watched the race after it ended. It was strange as around 3600 or so Gidey and Obiri formed a gap on Weightman and then Hassan bridged the gap only to immediately drop out at 4k when she was still in contention. Hassan looked like she was hurting bad at 3800 when they did a closeup of her but Weightman was not looking comfortable either. Great race by many of the women. AR by Hull, Rowberry ran well also.

Changed it so you were more correct. Old AR held by a NZer.

It's still held by Kimberley Smith, 14:39.89 (i).

I've always maintained that Hassan's performance in Doha is not possible by a clean woman. You can't close a fast 10k in 3:59 especially not with her atrocious form. People think she looks bad in a 1500 but she looks downright amateur in a 10000, uncomfortable until the last mile, she's shuffling nearly the entire race at a fast pace. Obiri looks horrible too, far too much bounce and twisting, the opposite end of the spectrum from Hassan in a longer race.

Ayana and Hassan had the two most obviously doped up races in recent memory but no one with authority has the guts to call them out. The chinese did it and were being called out as the race was happening. Ayana made Dibaba look like a bum and she's the greatest womens track runner in history and ran a PB in that race. This sport is honestly disgusting.

Hot for a 5K wrote:

Salvitore Stitchmo wrote:

True, no good performances over 5000m were recorded in Monaco...

She also struggled in Doha with the heat...

This has to be the worst thought out "justification" of all time. Kudos.

Some athletes have off days. It was hot and humid for a fast 5K. No problem. Just wasn't this great runner's day. In this COVID year without a predictable competition schedule things didn't go her way at Monaco but that doesn't detract from her being a great runner.

It's also called "cycling off".