Tokyo 2020 - Sifan Hassan becomes second woman to complete Olympic distance double with victory in 10,000m

ByRichard Newman

Updated 07/08/2021 at 14:34 GMT

The Dutch woman targeted a triple, but was beaten in the 1500m. She picked herself up a day later to add the 10,000m to the 5000m she won earlier in the Games, emulating the achievement of Tirunesh Dibaba, ahead of Kalkidan Gezahegne and world record holder Letesenbet Gidey. You want it? We have it. Stream every Olympic event live on discovery+.

Sifan Hassan became just the second woman ever to win the Olympic distance double by adding the 10,000m title to the 5000m she won earlier at Tokyo 2020.

The Dutch woman emulated the achievement of Tirunesh Dibaba by racing clear of a trio chasing gold on the final bend, ahead of Kalkidan Gezahegne and world record holder Letesenbet Gidey in 29:55.32.

Britain's Eilish McColgan was ninth, with Jessica Judd coming home in 17th, in extremely hot and humid conditions which many runners struggles with.

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“It’s definitely one of the hardest races I’ve ever run in my life,” McColgan told Eurosport.

“I couldn’t have done much more. It’s not far off my best, I would have liked to have sneaked down under 31 years but in these conditions, I gave it everything I had.

Those girls at the front, it’s absolutely incredible that they can run those times in this weather.

“That was the closest I’ve come to not finishing,” said Judd.

I’m from Canvey Island originally, now in Loughborough, going to Blackburn, and none of those places are like that! That was hard, it was really hard, I gave it everything.

“When it gets to you, it gets to you. I was desperate for water, I’ve never been this sweaty in my life.

A brutal pace was set after a slow start and athletes were dropping throughout the race as they struggled to keep up in hot and humid conditions.

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Past the halfway mark, a lead group of 15 dropped to just four in the space of one kilometre, but all of the lead contenders remained.

'Remarkable, wow!' - Hassan storms to glory in women's 5000m

With 7000m gone, the group lapped the back markers, and the medal contenders fell to three at 7600m, as world 5000m champion Hellen Obiri relinquished her challenge to drop back in the field.

Now it was a race between Gidey, Hassan and Gezahegne, but as the finish line drew closer, the pace slowed as the trio realised it was a race against each other for the medals and not the clock.

Gidey was leading but with two laps to go, her splits slowed from 69 to 75 seconds. It was the same one-two-three on the bell for the final 400m, and Hassan made her move on the final bend.

The Dutch woman went with Gezahegne, Gidey did not go with her, and Hassan raced clear to win gold. She was visibly exhausted at the end of the race, taking shelter and having ice applied as she recovered from the difficult conditions.

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