“I Was Born For Drama”: Revisiting the 5 Most Dramatic Moments of Sifan Hassan’s Career

Sifan Hassan penned the latest chapter of her remarkable running career when she won the 2023 TCS London Marathon on Sunday. Despite balancing her final month of training with fasting for Ramadan, despite stopping twice to stretch out her balky quad and falling 28 seconds behind the leaders, despite almost colliding with a motorcycle at the 40k drinks station, Hassan won her marathon debut in 2:18:33, defeating one of the greatest women’s fields ever assembled, including reigning Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir. Hassan’s unlikely victory was one of the most exciting in marathon history and has drawn worldwide media attention, from the front pages of newspapers in the UK and the Netherlands to local TV news in New York.

One of the major storylines to emerge from London is whether the 30-year-old Hassan, who was born in Ethiopia but represents the Netherlands after moving there as a 15-year-old refugee, should now be considered the greatest female distance runner in history. Certainly no one can match Hassan’s range of accomplishments: a world record in the mile (and one in the 10,000 meters, since broken), world titles in the 1500 and 10,000 meters, Olympic titles in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters, and now a victory at one of the world’s most prestigious marathons.

Whether that resume surpasses the consistent excellence of someone like Tirunesh Dibaba — the brilliant Ethiopian who won three Olympic and five world titles across the 5,000 and 10,000 meters, four World Cross Country titles and the 2017 Chicago Marathon, plus held the 5000 world record for longer than anyone in history (12 years, 4 months, 1 day) — is a matter of personal preference. But is there any distance runner who is more fun to watch right now than Sifan Hassan?

MB: Hassan is the GOAT female distance runner

Hassan does what we want all of our greatest athletes to do: she challenges herself, dreaming up ways to push not only her personal limits, but the limits of an entire sport. Four years ago, at the World Championships in Doha, Hassan wanted to run two events, but the schedule made the 1500/5,000 double untenable. Hassan seemingly had two options: switch to the 5,000/10,000 or drop the 5,000 entirely and focus on the 1500. She created a third option: run the 1500 and the 10,000.

No woman had ever medalled in both of those events during a career, let alone the same championships — to do so would require a truly unique combination of speed and endurance. Yet Hassan wondered if she possessed that exact combination. Two gold medals later, she proved she did.

Despite her mind-blowing results, Hassan does not come across as some running robot. She understands the absurdity of what she is doing, and offers a rare level of vulnerability for an athlete of her stature. It is part of what makes her so endearing. When Hassan revealed at the 2021 Olympics that she would be chasing an unprecedented triple in the 1500, 5,000, and 10,000 meters, she acknowledged it was “crazy” but decided to try it anyway because “I like really crazy things.”

Hassan admitted that, as she logged 120-mile weeks during Ramadan while preparing for her marathon debut in London, there were days she would wake up and ask herself, Why the hell did I decide to run a marathon? Back in the summer of 2021, ahead of her Olympic triple in Tokyo, her confidence would fluctuate daily.

“One day, I say, okay I’m in for three distances,” Hassan said. “Another day, no I’m not enough even for one distance, I’m not good enough. When the train go up, I’m like, Ooh, I’m in good shape. When the train go down? I’m nothing. I’m stupid.”

Not everyone finds Hassan endearing. One cannot discuss all that she accomplished without mentioning her time with the Nike Oregon Project from 2016-19, a group that disbanded when her coach, Alberto Salazar, was handed a four-year ban by USADA for multiple anti-doping rule violations (Salazar was never punished for doping any elite athlete and no NOP athlete was ever banned, and Hassan has never tested positive for a banned substance or served any sort of ban).

Yet while Hassan’s performance did improve under Salazar, it just be noted she was a world-class athlete before joining NOP (she ran 3:56 for 1500 and medalled at Worlds in 2015, then won the 2016 World Indoor title) and she has been even better since leaving the NOP to be coached by Salazar’s former assistant Tim Rowberry. Back in 2016, Hassan asked to be drug tested more frequently when she went to training camps in Africa, noting the disparity compared to when she was home in the Netherlands. When Salazar was banned in September 2019, in the midst of Hassan’s 1500/10,000 double at the Worlds in Doha, Hassan said she was clean and always will be.

“I’m almost five years constant athlete,” Hassan said. “I’ve always been the best. Well, I wouldn’t call myself the best. But I do my best…If I cheat, I never be constant before I work with [Salazar]…What do people think? Do they think I don’t get tested?…I was clean, I want to stay clean, I will stay forever also clean. If they want to, they can test me every single day.”

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What challenge is next for Sifan Hassan? She already has some ideas. Hassan plans to compete at the World Championships on the track in Budapest, which will be held August 19-27, though she does not yet know in which event(s). And in the post-London press conference on Sunday, Hassan revealed that she plans on running a fall marathon in the United States — either Chicago in October or New York City in November.

As for the 2024 Olympics in Paris, everything is on the table. On Sunday, in an interview with Dutch TV station NOS, Rowberry mentioned the possibility of emulating Czech legend Emil Zatopek‘s incredible 5,000-10,000-marathon triple at the 1952 Olympics. With her 2:18:33, Hassan is now qualified for the Olympic marathon, and with the women’s marathon taking place on the final day of the Games for the first time, a potential Hassan triple would draw major attention. But don’t expect a decision on that to come anytime soon.

“I guess that’s what’s important is that we think that’s possible to do 5K, 10K, marathon, but she loves the 1500m, she loves other races, and I don’t see her trying to give that up, either,” Rowberry said. “So it’s going to be a really big question, and we might make it the same as Tokyo where we have to make a decision at the last moment.”

Whatever option Hassan chooses to pursue, expect excitement. After her London victory, Hassan declared, “I was born for drama.” She’s got that right. To end this column, let’s revisit five of the most dramatic moments of her career to date.

August 30-31, 2018: Hassan runs two Diamond League finals in two nights in two cities

For the first 10 years of its existence, the Diamond League would have two finals at the end of the season — one in Zurich, one in Brussels, with the events divided evenly between the two cities. Usually those meets would be held a week apart so athletes could compete in both, but in 2018 they were held on back-to-back days. That meant most athletes qualified in two events had to choose one meet or another.

Not Sifan Hassan.

On August 30, Hassan ran the 5,000 in Zurich, where she finished a close second behind Hellen Obiri in 14:38.77. Then she hopped in a car and was driven seven hours overnight to Brussels, where she ran 3:59.41 the next day to finish 3rd in the 1500 behind Laura Muir and Shelby Houlihan. Though Hassan did not win either race, her strong performances laid the groundwork for her intense doubles in the years to come.

July 12, 2019: Hassan breaks mile world record with massive negative split

The women’s mile at the 2019 Monaco Diamond League was billed as a clash between world record holders Genzebe Dibaba and Beatrice Chepkoech. When both pulled out, the race could have been a letdown. Instead, Hassan made it a night to remember.

These days, world records are so good that you usually need top pacemakers and an optimized pacing strategy to have a shot at them. You don’t break a world record by accident. Unless you are Sifan Hassan.

Hassan went through 800 meters in 2:08.5 — three seconds off Svetlana Masterkova‘s 4:12.56 world record pace — and even with 200 meters remaining, commentator Tim Hutchings said the world record was unlikely to fall. But Hassan ran her final 800 in 2:01.9, with a final lap of 60 seconds flat, to sneak under the record at 4:12.33.

LRC Sifan Hassan Runs 4:12.33 to Break World Record in Brave Like Gabe Mile in Monaco

September 28, 2019: Hassan closes out 10k world title with 3:59 final 1500

In the 2019 World Championship 10,000-meter final in Doha, Letesenbet Gidey threw everything she had at Hassan and it still wasn’t enough. Gidey is one of the greatest talents the sport has ever produced: in three years following this race, she would go on to break world records in the 5,000, 10,000, and half marathon as well as earn gold at the 2022 Worlds in the 10,000. In Doha, she ran 30:21 and closed her final 1500 in 4:03 in a race where she broke everyone in the field save for Hassan. But that wasn’t nearly enough for the win as Hassan ran her last 1500 in a ridiculous 3:59.09 to crush Gidey by more than three seconds.

To put that in perspective, only 13 women broke 4:00 in the 1500 in all of 2019. Hassan did that at the end of a 10,000-meter race. It remains one of the most incredible closes in the history of distance running.

Seven days later, Hassan would win the 1500 in a championship-record 3:51.95 to become the first athlete to win the 1500 and 10,000 at the same global championship.

LRC Not A Typo: Sifan Hassan Wins 10,000 World Title With A 3:59 Final 1500

August 2, 2021: Hassan falls at the bell in Olympic 1500 prelims; gets up and wins heat, then wins 5,000 final that night

Sifan Hassan already knew August 2, 2021, would be a difficult day for her. At 9:47 a.m., Hassan was slated to run her first-round heat in the 1500 meters; at 9:40 p.m., just under 12 hours later, she would run the final of the 5,000 meters.

The 1500 was meant to be the easy part. With a lap to go, Hassan, who prefers to start out near the back, was 11th in her 15-person heat, conserving energy for her 5,000 final that evening. With the top six finishers advancing automatically, she was still well-placed to earn a spot in the semifinals. Suddenly, Kenya’s Edinah Jebitok fell down and Hassan, running directly behind her, had no time to react, hitting the track as well. But Hassan picked herself up immediately, and within 200 meters was back into qualifying position in 6th.

That wasn’t enough for Hassan, however, as she passed five women in the final 100 meters to win the heat, running her final 400 in 61.1 seconds — and that included the fall. Hassan likely would have been advanced no matter what — Jebitok was put through on appeal despite finishing 10th in the heat — but she was not taking any chances.

Hassan returned to the Olympic Stadium that night and won gold in the 5,000 meters. By the end of the Olympics, she had run six races in nine days, winning golds in the 5,000 and 10,000 and bronze in the 1500.

LRC Unbelievable: Sifan Hassan Falls at the Bell, Gets Up and Wins Her 1500 Heat as She Pursues Historic Triple
LRC Hassan Gets Gold #1 in Quest for Historic Triple at Tokyo Olympics
LRC Sifan Hassan Completes Triple With Gold in 10,000m

April 23, 2023: Hassan wins London Marathon in her debut

In 3mins, Sifan Hassan from London Marathon will teach you the greatest lesson for life & entrepreneurship. Goosebumps guaranteed!

Sifan ran her debut marathon while training through Ramadan and fasting and was pitted against the best athletes in the world.

Day before the race… pic.twitter.com/kbH8xcsced

— Dilip Kumar (@kmr_dilip) April 25, 2023

I won’t recap this one as I just wrote 1,600 words on it Sunday, but between her less-than-ideal buildup, early quad injury, and erasure of a 28-second deficit, the 2023 London Marathon could well go down as the most dramatic moment of Sifan Hassan’s career. And that is saying something.

LRC Sifan Hassan Gets Dropped Early, Storms Back To Win 2023 London Marathon

Further debate? Is Sifan Hassan the GOAT? We debated that on this week’s podcast. Video highlights below. Full pod here