Athlete Sifan Hassan has experienced a dramatic outcome in the final of the 10,000 meters at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest. She sprinted towards the finish in leading position, but stumbled a few meters before the end and fell. The Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay won gold as a result. Hassan got up after her fall and walked across the finish line in eleventh place.
In the beginning, the two-time Olympic champion (5,000 and 10,000 meters) already dropped a hole and it looked stiff. Gradually she got into a rhythm and after an acceleration she was able to take a seat at the back of the leading group. Hassan really picked up steam on the last lap and moved into first place. She made it a very long final sprint and seemed to secure her second world title on the longest track distance, but under pressure from the also accelerating Tsegay she suddenly made a mistake and crashed. Dejected, she got up and continued walking.
Shortly after the race itself, Hassan didn’t seem to understand what had happened. “I had the feeling that I was being pushed,” she told NOS in her first response. “But maybe I’ve gone mad.” Hassan is not angry. “Sad. But I can’t help this, this is sport too. It’s not the end of the world either. This is not the Olympics. I still have a few races to go here.”
Femke Bol also falls
The drama for the Netherlands was not yet complete with the fall of Hassan. It also went wrong for the mixed relay team due to a fall in the last meters. Liemarvin Bonevacia, Lieke Klaver, Isaya Klein Ikkink and Femke Bol were on the title race in the 4 × 400 meters, but final runner Bol also crashed just before the line.
Bol was battling American Alexis Holmes when she fell. She got up and eventually crossed the line in third, but because she lost the baton, the team was disqualified. The American team wins gold in a world record in 3:08.80.
Bol reacted to the NOS upset. “I do not know exactly. I wanted to go, but my legs wouldn’t. I still fought for third place, but I dropped the baton. Sometimes people think I’m a machine, but I’m not.”