Sifan Hassan comes into the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 with as much an air of mystery as a shield of invincibility.
The flying Dutchwoman who soared to that stunning 1500m-10,000m double at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, and onwards to 5000m and 10,000m gold and 1500m bronze at last year’s Olympic Games, had been grounded from the competitive arena in 2022 until a timely return on Friday 8 July.
According to her manager, Jos Hermens, the 29-year-old has been recovering from the mental and physical toll exerted by the exceptional workload she undertook in Tokyo.
“She is not a machine,” Hermens told the Dutch broadcaster NOS. “She has needed time to recover from her super 2021 season. It will be a race against time to be sharp in Eugene but it will be fine. Sifan only goes for the highest competition.”
In the Stumptown Twilight meeting in Portland on Friday, Hassan dusted off the cobwebs, reeling off 73-second laps before closing with a 67.40 final circuit to ease to victory in the 5000m in 15:13.41.
Hassan—who returned to training deliberately late after her Olympic exertions and suffered a minor calf injury in March— is entered for the 1500m, 5000m and 10,000m at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 but intends to drop one of the events. She and coach Tim Rowberry will make the decision after reflecting on her Portland performance.
If she chooses to defend her 10,000m crown, the big question will be whether she will have sufficient sharpness to repeat the devastating sprint finishes that took her to gold in Doha and Tokyo —and to maintain an unbeaten record at 25 laps that stands at five races.
If she does, Hassan would become only the second woman to successfully defend the title, after Ethiopia’s Tirunesh Dibaba, who achieved back-to-back wins in Helsinki in 2005 and Osaka in 2007—and who also triumphed in Moscow in 2013. Kenya’s Vivian Cheruiyot won the title in 2011 and regained it from Dibaba in 2015.
The lack of a killer finish from Hassan in Eugene would probably open the door for Letesenbet Gidey, the Ethiopian who obliterated Hassan’s two-day-old world record of 29:06.82 with a stunning 29:01.03 in Hengelo in June last year.
In Doha in 2019 and in Tokyo last year, Gidey was thwarted by Hassan’s blistering kick, taking silver and bronze respectively.
Gidey has contested just three races since her sensational 1:02:52 half marathon world record run in Valencia last October.
A touted attack on her 5000m world record at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Eugene on 28 May fell short when the 24-year-old tailed off in the last 1000m, finishing a distant runner-up (14:24.59) to fellow Ethiopian Ejgayehu Taye, who won in 14:12.98.
Then, in her sole 10,000m outing of the season, Gidey was content to concentrate on winning the Ethiopian trial within the FBK Games race in Hengelo, clocking 30:44.27, while Britain’s Eilish McColgan blasted to a 30:19.02 world lead.
At the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Oslo on 16 June, Gidey finished third over 5000m in 14:26.92 behind compatriots Dawit Seyaum, the 2016 world indoor 1500m silver medallist, and Gudaf Tsegay, the world 1500m and Olympic 5000m bronze medal winner.
Taye has the potential to challenge gold. Bronze medallist over 3000m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22 in March, she made her 10,000m debut in Hengelo, finishing third behind McColgan and Gidey in 30:44.68. Bosena Mulatie, 20, secured the third Ethiopian team spot with fifth place in Hengelo.