Dutchwoman Sifan Hassan plans to race the 1500m, 5000m and 10,000m at the world track and field championships, repeating her Tokyo Olympic triple where she won an unprecedented two golds and one bronze in the distance events.
“I want to see if I can do it again, because the challenge of running three distances fuels me,” was posted on Hassan’s social media.
As in Tokyo, Hassan is setting up to run 24,500 meters at worlds in Budapest. Her six races — including heats and finals — spanned nine days at the Olympics.
They will span eight days at worlds starting Saturday with both the 1500m first round (1:15 p.m. local time) and 10,000m final (8:55 p.m.).
TRACK AND FIELD WORLDS: Broadcast Schedule
Hassan said it will be less stressful than in Tokyo because she has already experienced how hard the triple is, according to Dutch broadcaster NOS.
The last person to compete in three individual events at a single worlds was Nigerian sprinter/long jumper Blessing Okagbare in 2011 and 2013, according to Bill Mallon of Olympedia.org.
An athlete raced three distance events at a single worlds on four occasions, most recently Bolivian Marco Condori in 1997. None of those distance runners won a medal.
Hassan is set to face the world record holder in each of her three events.
Kenyan Faith Kipyegon, the two-time Olympic 1500m champion, broke the 1500m and 5000m world records on consecutive Fridays in June. She bids to become the first woman to win both of those events at a global championship.
In the 10,000m, Ethiopian Letesenbet Gidey is the defending champion. She broke Hassan’s world record in June 2021, two days after Hassan had lowered the record by 10.63 seconds.
At the Olympics, Hassan became the second woman to earn a medal in three individual track races at one Games. The other was also a Dutchwoman, Fanny Blankers-Koen, who won the 100m, 200m and 80m hurdles at the 1948 London Games.
Hassan went 10 months between races after the 2021 season. She took at least seven months between training in track spikes after a mentally and physically exhausting campaign, according to NOS.
At last year’s worlds, she placed fourth in the 10,000m and sixth in the 5000m on that abbreviated build-up.
Hassan, 30, then won the London Marathon on April 23 in her 26.2-mile debut. She is entered to race the Chicago Marathon on Oct. 8.
She may run the 2024 Olympic marathon. Her coach, American Tim Rowberry, said in April that Hassan will race at least once on the track in Paris. Anything beyond that had not been decided yet.
