Sifan Hassan traded elbows with Tigst Assefa with 150 metres left in the women’s marathon, then passed her along the railing to win the race for her third distance medal of the Paris Games on Sunday.
Hassan finished in an Olympic record time of two hours 22 minutes 55 seconds. She also won bronze on the track in the 5,000 and 10,000 metres. By simply completing the marathon, she ran more than 62 kilometres.
She now has six Olympic medals. In Tokyo, Hassan won the 5,000 and 10,000 and finished third in the 1,500.
Assefa, three seconds behind her, took silver and Kenya’s Hellen Obiri claimed the bronze in 2:23:10.
WATCH | Hassan reaches top of podium with 3rd medal at Paris Olympics:
Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands captures gold in the women’s marathon at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 with an Olympic record time of 2:22.55. Hassan also claimed bronze in the women’s 5,000-metre and 10,000-metre events earlier in the week.
Malindi Elmore of Kelowna, B.C., was 35th, clocking 2:31:08 in her second Olympic marathon. Three years ago, the 44-year-old placed ninth in Sapporo, Japan.
Breaking from tradition, the women’s Olympic marathon was held on the final day instead of the men’s race.
Hassan, an Ethiopian-born racer who runs for the Netherlands, used the same tactic in the hilly, 42.2 km course as she does on the oval. She lingered behind the leaders for the bulk of the race before summoning up the energy for a late-race kick that will go down as one of the best the sport has seen.
WATCH | Tamirat Tola tops men’s marathon field and sets Olympic mark:
Tamirat Tola of Ethiopia claims the gold medal in the men’s marathon with an Olympic record time of 2:06:26.
