Sifan Hassan Wins London Marathon in Stunning Comeback
Hassan, an Olympic champion running her first marathon after training during Ramadan, came from behind to beat an elite field.
Sifan Hassan, an Olympic track champion from the Netherlands running her first marathon, staged a stunning comeback on Sunday to win the London Marathon in one of the most dramatic and unexpected finishes in the race’s history.
In winning, Hassan, 30, showed both her stunning range as a runner — she was a triple medalist in three shorter distances on the Tokyo Olympics track two years ago and holds the world record in the mile — but also her inexperience as a marathoner.
An Ethiopian-born Dutch athlete better known for her middle-distance success, Hassan fell off the pace about an hour into the race, stopped at least once to stretch her aching left hip, and offered a drink to one of her rivals as they ran even after missing a water stop herself — the result, she said later, of having never practiced for them.
Hassan did it all despite training for the race during Ramadan, a month of fasting that left her unable to complete long runs because she could not eat or drink during the day.
Yet at the finish line on Sunday, she wound up on her knees a few yards beyond the tape she had just broken, draped in a pink towel and appearing to talk herself through what she had just accomplished.
“I can’t believe it,” she said to no one in particular.
“I learned to be patient and just to run your own race,” Hassan said at a news conference. “Just keep going as much as possible and maybe you will surprise yourself.”
Her race was hardly a textbook marathon. She stopped about an hour in, clearly struggling, and dropped off the pace while she stretched. She soon started to feel better, though, and went back on the hunt. Mile by mile, she closed the gap on the front-running group that included experienced marathoners like the Olympic gold medalist Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya and the defending London Marathon champion Yalemzerf Yehualaw of Ethiopia.
Creeping closer and closer to the front over the rainy streets of Westminster as the finish neared, Hassan pulled first within sight of the leaders and then onto their shoulders. Finally, as she rounded the race’s last turn and a large grandstand filled with spectators in front of Buckingham Palace let out a roar, she took off as if she were closing out a 1,500-meter race.
Her final two challengers, Alemu Megertu of Ethiopia and Jepchirchir, had nothing left to match her. And just like that, Hassan, in her debut race, was a marathon champion. Crossing the line at a sprinter’s speed, she covered her face in her hands in disbelief.
Hassan finished in 2 hours 18 minutes 33 seconds. Megertu was second, Jepchirchir third and Yehualaw fourth.
Hassan, an Olympic champion running her first marathon after training during Ramadan, came from behind to beat an elite field.
Sifan Hassan, an Olympic track champion from the Netherlands running her first marathon, staged a stunning comeback on Sunday to win the London Marathon in one of the most dramatic and unexpected finishes in the race’s history.
In winning, Hassan, 30, showed both her stunning range as a runner — she was a triple medalist in three shorter distances on the Tokyo Olympics track two years ago and holds the world record in the mile — but also her inexperience as a marathoner.
An Ethiopian-born Dutch athlete better known for her middle-distance success, Hassan fell off the pace about an hour into the race, stopped at least once to stretch her aching left hip, and offered a drink to one of her rivals as they ran even after missing a water stop herself — the result, she said later, of having never practiced for them.
Hassan did it all despite training for the race during Ramadan, a month of fasting that left her unable to complete long runs because she could not eat or drink during the day.
Yet at the finish line on Sunday, she wound up on her knees a few yards beyond the tape she had just broken, draped in a pink towel and appearing to talk herself through what she had just accomplished.
“I can’t believe it,” she said to no one in particular.
“I learned to be patient and just to run your own race,” Hassan said at a news conference. “Just keep going as much as possible and maybe you will surprise yourself.”
Her race was hardly a textbook marathon. She stopped about an hour in, clearly struggling, and dropped off the pace while she stretched. She soon started to feel better, though, and went back on the hunt. Mile by mile, she closed the gap on the front-running group that included experienced marathoners like the Olympic gold medalist Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya and the defending London Marathon champion Yalemzerf Yehualaw of Ethiopia.
Creeping closer and closer to the front over the rainy streets of Westminster as the finish neared, Hassan pulled first within sight of the leaders and then onto their shoulders. Finally, as she rounded the race’s last turn and a large grandstand filled with spectators in front of Buckingham Palace let out a roar, she took off as if she were closing out a 1,500-meter race.
Her final two challengers, Alemu Megertu of Ethiopia and Jepchirchir, had nothing left to match her. And just like that, Hassan, in her debut race, was a marathon champion. Crossing the line at a sprinter’s speed, she covered her face in her hands in disbelief.
Hassan finished in 2 hours 18 minutes 33 seconds. Megertu was second, Jepchirchir third and Yehualaw fourth.
埃塞俄比亚的难民，到了荷兰成了国家英雄。几年前看过她的一次比赛，几个人摔倒了把她拌倒，爬起来时被前面的人拉出去二三十米了，最后居然追回来了。那是小组赛，顺利出线。但最后好象没拿冠军。