Sifan Hassan finishes 4th in world 10,000 meters; Sifan Hassan Gidey will get gold

Endurance icon Sifan Hassan wasn’t going for 3 medals this time. Now, she gained’t even get two, and he or she’s OK with that.

The Dutch distance workhorse obtained outraced to the road in a fight-to-the-finish 10,000 meters Saturday on this planet championships. She completed fourth, behind Letesenbet Gidey of Ethiopia, Hellen Obiri of Kenya and Obiri’s late-charging teammate, Margaret Chelimo Kipkemboi.

Gidey gained in half-hour, 9.94 seconds. Only 0.62 seconds separated the highest 4 runners.

It means Hassan’s solely probability for a medal will come subsequent week within the 5,000 meters, a race wherein she is the reigning Olympic champion. Given whet she completed final 12 months, she wasn’t all that upset to complete out of the medals.

“I knew my practice hadn’t been the best I could get,” Hassan mentioned.

“I trained so hard during almost three years from 2019 to 2021 to get all the medals I won. So I really needed a break after the Tokyo Olympics. I was mentally crashed.”

The 29-year-old additionally gained the ten,000 and took bronze within the 1,500 final summer season in Tokyo, ending a three-medals-in-three-races combo that had by no means been accomplished earlier than.

She scaled again this 12 months, not desirous to repeat a collection of six races that totaled practically 25,000 meters — prelims and finals included — over the span of per week.

The 10,000, a distance at which she additionally gained the world championship in 2019, appeared to be organising completely for her because the runners reached the backstretch with about 200 meters to go.

In a five-woman phalanx battling for 3 medals, Hassan pulled out broad and drew into third place, simply behind Gidey and Obiri. But she couldn’t cross both, and during the last 40 meters, Kipkemboi placed on a cost to cross Hassan on the within.
“I know I’ve achieved important things personally and in sports, so I know you can’t be disappointed because of a fourth place,” Hassan mentioned.

She is predicted again on the observe Wednesday for prelims within the 5,000, the space she has by no means captured at worlds.

Gidey added this gold to a silver she gained three years in the past at worlds in Doha and a bronze from the Tokyo Olympics final 12 months.

“I have had a dream of winning the gold since 2019, but Hassan has always been here,” Gidey mentioned.

“I also have the dream to win the gold at 5,000 meters and get the double”.

Gidey was the primary champion on a day that additionally included the lads’s 100 on the night schedule. Fred Kerley ran a 9.79 within the opening spherical, setting himself up as a favourite in a race that can embody defending world champion Christian Coleman and reigning Olympic champion Marcel Jacobs.

Also within the afternoon session, Poland’s Pawel Fajdek gained his fifth world title in hammer throw. Other finals Saturday evening had been within the males’s lengthy bounce and ladies’s shot put.