Dutch runner Sifan Hassan wins 5000m in first step in treble gold bid

TOKYO: Dutch runner Sifan Hassan took a first, giant step in her bid for an unprecedented Olympic treble when she sprinted to gold in the 5000m on Monday. Ethiopian-born Hassan, 28, produced a devastating final-lap sprint to time 14min 36.79sec.

Kenya's two-time world champion Hellen Obiri claimed silver in 14:38.36, with Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay taking bronze with 14:38.87.

Any fears Hassan might have to ride out tactics designed to thwart her from east African rivals Ethiopia and Kenya came to nothing in a slow-paced race that ended with an almighty bang that perfectly suited her explosive finishing skills.

Hassan arrived in Tokyo aiming not just for the 5000m, but also the 1500m and 10000m in an unprecedented tilt at middle-distance dominance.

She became the first athlete to achieve the 1500 and 10000m world double in Doha in 2019, an astonishing display given that it coincided with a four-year ban handed down to her then coach Alberto Salazar, the head of the now-disbanded Nike-funded Oregon Project. The 5000m in Tokyo always promised to be a potential banana skin.

In Ethiopians Tsegay, Ejgayehu Taye and Senbere Teferi, and Kenya's Obiri and Agnes Tirop, the entry list featured five of the world's 10 fastest ever over the distance. Agencies

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