Will Sifan Hassan Make History at Paris Olympic Games By Running Four Events?

When the Dutch Olympic Games team was published to Instagram, one thing immediately stood out to running fans: Sifan Hassan, their celebrated middle and long distance runner, was listed to compete in four different events. 

Sifan has qualified to run the 1500m, 5000m, 10,000m and marathon, which is an incredible feat in itself, and she has provisionally been selected in all four races. If she competes in all four events it will be the first time in history that an athlete has attempted such a demanding schedule of racing. 

However, 31-year old Sifan, who has won three Olympic medals and has run the second-fastest marathon of all time, has yet to confirm her exact plans for Paris. What we know is that she’s been selected to race four events and that she’ll soon decide how many she’ll be on the start line for. Could it really be all four?

HAS THIS BEEN DONE BEFORE?

Other athletes have taken on numerous track events at a single Olympics, but no one has attempted four middle and long distance events at the same Games.

The Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi won five gold medals in 1924 in the 1500m, 5000m, team 3000m event, and two cross country races. The Dutch runner Fanny Blankers-Koen won four golds in 1948 in the 100m dash, 80m hurdles, 200m and the 4x100m relay. While the legendary Czech runner Emil Zatopek won gold in the 5000m, 10,000m and marathon in 1952.

In fact, only one person has ever won Olympic medals in both middle distance and long distance events at the same Olympics, and that was Sifan Hassan. She achieved that in Tokyo in 2021 by medalling in the 1500m (bronze), 5000m (gold) and 10,000m (gold).

WHAT WILL SIFAN HASSAN’S RACE SCHEDULE BE?

If Sifan decides to compete in all four events, then her Olympic Games schedule will mean running at least seven races in 10 days (with a possible extra repechage round in the 1500m if she doesn’t automatically qualify from round 1). 

With some of these medal races finishing late at night, and then the next race starting the following morning, she will barely have 12 hours to recover and rest between runs. 

Here is Sifan’s potential schedule, with local start time. 
Friday 2 August: 5000m. Round 1 (start 1810)
Monday 5 August: 5000m. Final (start 2120)
Tuesday 6 August: 1500m. Round 1 (start 1005)
Wednesday 7 August: 1500m. Repechage (possible). (Start 1235)
Thursday 8 August: 1500m. Semifinal (start 2005) 
Friday 9 August: 10,000m. Final (start 2055)
Saturday 10 August: 1500m. Final (start 2025)
Sunday 11 August: Marathon (start 0800) 

CAN SIFAN HASSAN RUN FOUR EVENTS?

With her experience running 1500m, 5000m and 10,000m in Tokyo in 2021, Sifan knows how to race and recover over a short period of time, but will a marathon at the end be one race too many?

We’re excited to see Sifan run at the Paris Olympic Games, however many races she takes part in.