Part 3 of 3
Sifan Hasan is one of the most famous and fascinating athletes in the world. Across all of our Paris 2024 social media, Sifan Hassan was the most popular global athlete at Paris 2024.
Sifan Hassan and his family moved to the Netherlands in 2008 at the age of 15 as political refugees from Ethiopia. He became a citizen of the Netherlands in 2013. This writer first saw her at the 2014 European Athletics Outdoor Championships in August 2014 in Zurich. At the EAC, Sifan won bronze in the 5000m and won the 1500m. It was always fun to watch Sifan race and his emotional reaction to the race and his obvious enjoyment of the sport made it even more fun.
Sifan has always run the gamut. At the beginning of his career, he ran from 800 meters to half marathon with khachkar. In December 2013, Sifan Hasan won a gold medal at the European Under-23 Athletics Championships and helped the Netherlands win the bronze medal. It was his first time representing his new country, the Netherlands.
Sifan held the mile world record (4:12) from 2019 to 2023. He also held the 10,000 meter world record over two days and still holds the world hour record (18,930 meters is 11.7623 miles), which is brutal.
In terms of European records. Sifan Hassan holds European records in 1500m, 3000m, 5000m, 10000m, half marathon and marathon.
Sifan Hassan is a hugely talented athlete who works hard, laughs and runs with abandon. In RunBlogRun’s global audience, he is one of our most popular, judging by the response on social media, and the article reads:
His European record at the 2023 Bank of America Chicago Marathon, the current European record of 2:13.44, is quite impressive. Still, his one-hour world record blows my mind because he’s a quarter-mile away from running a perfect five-minute mile in an hour. Siphan’s mental strength is something to behold.
We reached out to Brett Holtz at NIKE Sports Marketing and asked if he could help us reach Sifan Hassan. Not only did Brett Holts do that, but the speed with which the interview came back was incredible.
We hope you enjoy these insights on Sifan Hasan, who just won bronze in the 5,000 meters, 10,000 meters and then gold in the marathon. They are his fourth, fifth and sixth Olympic medals.
Part 3/3
9. RunBlogRun. Your marathon in Chicago was spectacular and you looked like you were having so much fun in the press. After the event, you thanked the media for covering you. how do you view racing? What is your philosophy?
Sifan Hasan. My coach and I already had the Paris 2024 Olympic marathon in mind. London was great, but I wanted to see if I could do a quick marathon before Paris. So yeah, I was pretty happy after that.
Heritage
10. RunBlogRun. If you were to speak to a room of young women from around the world who want to run, what would you tell them?
Sifan Hasan. Please, please, please, inspire the people around you to run as well. Exercise is so important. It makes you healthier, it makes you live longer, it
helps you set goals in all areas of your life and more. So try to inspire people around you to run too.
photo by Kevin Morris
Training
11. RunBlogRun. What workouts do you dislike but are always good for you?
Sifan Hasan. Uh, any training for a 5k. I hate miles, but they are so important.
outfit
12. RunBlogRun. What shoes do you train in?
Sifan Hasan. I switch between different Nike models, but I use the Nike Infinity the most.
13. RunBlogRun; What shoes do you race in (travel and road)?
Sifan Hasan. Nike Victory & Dragonfly (track), Nike Alphafly 3 (road).
Special thanks to Sifan Hasan for taking the time to be interviewed. Simon Barrie (Go Badgers) was very critical of this interview. Thanks to Johnny Nielsen and Brett Holts.
As this article was published, Sifan Hassan announced that the Qatar Foundation had recognized Sifan as a global role model for young women. Sifan will also be the QF Foundation Athletics Ambassador; more here https://www.qf.org.qa/stories/qf-launches-the-creating-pathways-program-to-develop-local-girls-sporting
To read the full interview, please click here: https://www.runblogrun.com/2024/09/sifan-hassan-the-runblogrun-interview-speaks-on-her-running-origins-her-experiences-and- her -recent-olympic-medals.html?swcfpc=1
