BLUR OF SPEED: Dawit Seyaum of Ethiopia, left, and Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands compete during the women’s 1 500m final at the Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. Picture: EPA
JOHANNESBURG – Ethiopian-born Dutch athlete Sifan Hassan will attempt to break the world record for the most distance run in an hour by a woman at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Brussels on September 4.
Hassan will have to cover more than 18.517km within 60 minutes to break the record set in 2008 by Ethiopia’s Dire Tune.
If she is at her best, that distance should be within Hassan’s capabilities; when she set a half marathon personal best of 1:05:15 in 2018, Hassan covered roughly 19.375km during the first hour.
Hassan is familiar with the track in the King Baudouin Stadium.
Having set national records there for 3,000m in 2014 and the mile in 2015, last year she secured the Diamond League title over 5,000m in the Belgian capital.
Aside from her unique double at the World Championships in Doha, Hassan’s momentous 2019 season also included a world mile record of 4:12.33 in Monaco, a European 3,000m record of 8:18.49 in Stanford, and a European 5,000m record of 14:22.12 in London.
“This is a strange and difficult season, but I have been able to continue my training as well as I could and I feel fit and healthy,” said Hassan.
“There are very few occasions to compete these days and I am delighted with the invitation from the AG Memorial Van Damme to attack the one-hour world record.
“It is a strong record but I take the challenge with both hands and I believe that I’m in the right shape to succeed.”
African News Agency (ANA)