Sifan Hassan: I’m addicted to the pain of marathon running
Netherlands' Sifan Hassan runs to the line to win the women's race at the finish of the 2023 London Marathon in central London on April 23, 2023.
What you need to know:
- Only Ethiopians Letesenbet Gidey (2:16:49) from Valencia last year and Ethiopian Almaz Ayana (2:17:20) in Amsterdam, also last year, have run faster debuts over the 42-kilometre distance.
- And in Chicago, Hassan’s 2:13:44 course record was the second fastest time ever, only surpassed by Ethiopian Tigist Assefa’s amazing world record 2:11:53 set at the Berlin Marathon only a month earlier.
In April this year, multiple world and Olympic track champion Sifan Hassan made a spectacular debut in marathon running, beating the best female field ever assembled at the London Marathon.
And in her second marathon in Chicago in October, the Dutchwoman smashed the course record by 20 seconds.
Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands reacts as she crosses the finish line to win the 2023 Chicago Marathon professional women's division at Grant Park on October 08, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois.
Her winning time of two hours, 18 minutes and 33 seconds in London was the second fastest-ever debut by a female marathon runner.
Only Ethiopians Letesenbet Gidey (2:16:49) from Valencia last year and Ethiopian Almaz Ayana (2:17:20) in Amsterdam, also last year, have run faster debuts over the 42-kilometre distance.
And in Chicago, Hassan’s 2:13:44 course record was the second fastest time ever, only surpassed by Ethiopian Tigist Assefa’s amazing world record of 2:11:53 set at the Berlin Marathon only a month earlier.
And when Hassan’s NN Running team announced her entry into the March 3 Tokyo Marathon next year - alongside Kenya’s men’s course record holder Eliud Kipchoge - expectations rose a notch higher even though the double Olympic track champion will be competing in only her third marathon.
A screen grab of Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge and Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands during their media call with global journalists on December 21, 2023. Both Hassan and Kipchoge will compete at the Tokyo Marathon on March 3, 2024.
Speculation is already rife that she will beat Brigid Kosgei’s course record in the Japanese capital of 2:16:02 set in 2022.
Hassan will be returning to a city where she chalked up double Olympic victory in the 5,000 and 10,000 metres at the coronavirus-affected 2021 Games.
“I feel Tokyo (Marathon) is the perfect preparation towards the Paris Olympic Games, because I have great Olympic memories in the city of Tokyo and I feel I can fuel my Olympic fire there,” she said on Wednesday after her NN Running Team/Global Sports Management stable confirmed her Tokyo entry.
“In the streets of Tokyo, I will be looking to continue my marathon journey. I want to learn from every marathon since every marathon is different and I can’t wait to come to Tokyo.”
The World Marathon Majors course sees athletes start by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in the west of the Japanese capital, taking in the city’s rich sights, before finishing by the iconic Imperial Palace in the centre of the metropolis.
Hassan is the most diverse female distance runner, her exploits ranging from the 800m to, now, the marathon.
At this year’s World Athletics Championships in Budapest, she won silver in the 1,500m behind Kenyan sensation Faith Kipyegon and Ethiopia’s Deribe Welteji.
She then bagged silver in the 5,000m behind Kipyegon, like Hassan, who is also a member of the Nijmegen-based Dutch NN Running Team/Global Sports Management stable.
Kenya's Faith Kipyegon (centre) reacts as she crosses the finish line to win the women's 5000m final ahead of Netherlands' Sifan Hassan (left) and Kenya's Beatrice Chebet (right) during the World Athletics Championships at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest on August 26, 2023.
At the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, Hassan panned gold medals in the 1,500m and 10,000m.
Her rich track repertoire boasts of amazing times - 1:56.81 for 800m, 3:51.95 for 1500m; 4:12.33 for the mile; 29:06.82 for 10,000m and 1:05:15 for the half-marathon.
And despite now being a European marathon record holder after her exploits in Chicago, Hassan, is yet to decide which races to enter for next year’s Paris Olympic Games, but notes that she just started her training programme in Ethiopia, where she was born, and will be making the big call closer to the July 26 to August 11 Paris Olympics.
“Alhamdulilhah (praise be to God), I’m good and my preparations (for the Tokyo Marathon) have just started… maybe I celebrated too much after Chicago and I took a long break and just started training a week ago.
“But I’m physically and mentally fresh, which for me is most important and I’m really happy to be with Eliud (in Tokyo) because he is my greatest role model in running,” she told a global media conference call on Thursday.
“I haven’t really decided which distance to run (in Paris).
“Since the Chicago Marathon (in October) I’ve just started training and I just want to see what distance I will be good at.
“I just want to be injury-free and healthy and then in 2024 I will see which distance I’m best at and then I can decide which one to run.
“I don’t want to stress myself up. Alhamdulilhah, I hope to get the opportunity to run any distance I want and see where I’m good then I can decide two or three months before (the Olympics).
“I’m currently training in Ethiopia because of the high altitude and the weather in Africa is good… during the winter I cannot train in the Netherlands or America because we have snow,” said 30-year-old Hassan who was born in Adama, some 100 kilometres away from Addis Ababa in the athletics-rich Oromiya Region of Ethiopia on New Year’s Day in 1993.
Dutch star Sifan Hassan (left) and Kenya's Kelvin Kiptum pose after winning the 2023 Bank of America Chicago Marathon in Chicago, Illinois, on October 8, 2023. Kiptum won in a world record time of two hours and 35 seconds while Hassan won the Chicago Marathon women's title on Sunday in an unofficial time of two hours, 13 minutes and 44 seconds -- the second-fastest women's time in marathon history.
On her marathon debut in London in April, Hassan had to overcome massive challenges, stopping at about the 20-kilometre mark to stretch her quadricep muscles, losing some 10 seconds on the leading pack, with the gap increasing to 28 seconds by the 25km point.
But she ran off the pain and attacked between kilometre 25 and 30, reattaching herself to the lead pack, her 3:51.19 personal best time in the 1,500 metres holding her in good stead for a title-winning sprint finish.
And after subsequently conquering Chicago, Hassan now feels she can handle the pain of the marathon.
“I enjoyed both marathons in different ways,” she said on Thursday.
“I’m not really focused on breaking the marathon world record right now. I just want to gain more experience and gain from the greatest marathon runners… I just wanna enjoy the marathon and have fun.
London Marathon champion, Dutchwoman Sifan Hassan, during training in the Netherlands recently. She will compete at the Tokyo Marathon next March.
Her thoughts about the pain that comes with the marathon?
“After the first five kilometres in Chicago, I told myself that I’m never gonna run the marathon again…
“But 10 minutes later, I thought to myself ‘I think I’m addicted to the pain!
“Now I don’t have any doubt. I’m really excited. I’m now curious and I’m telling myself that I need to be in shape…. I think I’m addicted to the pain…. You can ask Eliud (Kipchoge) how it feels!
“That I’m running in the Tokyo Marathon has nothing to do with the Paris Olympics… I think I’m addicted to the marathon.
“Marathon people are amazing and now I always want to run the marathon, but it doesn’t matter if I run an amazing time in Tokyo or run a terrible race.
“After Chicago I decided I need to run one more marathon (before the Paris Olympics and Tokyo is a good time for me because London (on April 21, 2024) is going to be too late, because I also want to see what I can do on the track.”
Hassan, meanwhile said she will maintain her Nike AlphaFly 3 prototype shoes that she wore in London and Chicago for the Tokyo Marathon next March.
“I will wear the same shoe – AlphaFly – because I ran incredibly in two marathons with these shoes so why change? I will wear the same shoe that I wore in London and Chicago.”
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During Thursday’s media round table attended by about 20 global athletics journalists, Hassan and Kipchoge engaged in a little conversation about what to expect in Tokyo next March:
Hassan: “I will ask Eliud many, many questions about Tokyo…
“I’d like to know how Tokyo is and how he prepared for his Tokyo Marathon (in 2017)… Eliud, can you tell me a little bit about Tokyo? I’m really curious!”
Kipchoge: “I can see your smiling face and I think you are ready for Tokyo.
“Tokyo is a great city, a very flat course with a beautiful Japanese culture of running. This will give you more motivation to run more and even extend outside Tokyo.
“There’s a good crowd all over the course, singing. The Japanese are really good!”
Hassan: “You make me more motivated! Wow! I didn’t know it’s so beautiful and I’m really excited to be there and I will ask you more questions when I see you.”
Kipchoge: “No problem. You are welcome!”
Kipchoge described Hassan as “a fantastic athlete” who knows how to adjust between track and marathon running.
“The important thing is she is enjoying the marathon and enjoying the track. That’s the beauty of sport!,” Kipchoge added in the 40-minute-long media chat.
Gold medalist, Kenya's Faith Kipyegon (left) embraces silver medalist, Netherlands' Sifan Hassan (right) after the women's 5000m final during the World Athletics Championships at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest on August 26, 2023.
