She won the most incredible gold medal of the Paris Olympics. Now she’s coming to Sydney

She claimed one of the most stunning gold medals of the 2024 Olympic Games by winning the marathon in a crazy sprint finish in Paris, less than two days after claiming bronze in the 10,000m and six days after winning bronze in the 5000m.

Now, iconic Dutch athlete Sifan Hassan has set her sights on claiming victory in the Sydney Marathon, after signing on to run alongside fellow legend Eliud Kipchoge in the event’s first race as a World Marathon Major on August 31.

Hassan has become the latest superstar to commit to running in Sydney, eight months after the event won a bid process to join London, Chicago, Berlin, Tokyo, Boston and New York and become the seventh World Marathon Major.

“I am very happy for them to make a seventh major Marathon in Australia. I really appreciate the opportunity to run there,” Hassan said.

“I have always wanted to go out to Australia, I know it has the great weather and everything. But unfortunately I have never been there. But it’s great to now be able to run a major marathon there, it has always been a dream to go to Australia, and see the fantastic weather and be a part of a great sporting country. I always see them producing great athletes.”

Like Kipchoge, Hassan’s record as an athlete borders on the incredible.

Sifan Hassan of Team Netherlands celebrates after winning the Women’s Marathon.Credit: Getty Images

The 32-year-old, who was born in Ethopia but moved to the Netherlands as a teenage refugee, is the only woman to have won Olympic and World Championship gold in distances ranging from the 1500m to the marathon.

In 2021, she raced in three events at the Tokyo Olympics, winning gold in the 5000m and 10,000m and bronze in the 1500m. In 2024, she decided to race in three events again, and aimed to match Emil Zatopek’s treble of gold in 1952, in the 5000m, 10,000m and marathon.

“I always like a challenge and always like a new thing to try and achieve. In 2019, I was looking for a challenge and that was three events [1500m, 5000m and 10000m] and I did that [winning world championship gold in the 1500m and 10000m],” Hassan said

“After the Tokyo Olympics, then I thought, ‘OK, what now?’ In 2022, I just had no motivation, and I don’t know if I was scared of the marathon or not, but I thought, ‘OK, one day I am going to do it’. I never thought I would be good at it.”

Sifan Hassan celebrates as she crosses the finish line to win the women’s 5,000m in the Tokyo Olympics.Credit: AP

She needn’t have worried. After initially “really overtraining” – Hassan asked a fellow marathoner how they survived the 300km training weeks only to be told 160-180km was more than enough – the Dutch athlete won her first ever 42.195km race in the London Marathon in 2023. Then she won the Chicago marathon as well.

In 2024, Hassan’s new training load probably cost her the chance to defend her 5000m and 10000m golds, but her peerless grit still saw her claim bronze in both finals.

Less than 48 hours after the 10,000m final, and with two 5000m runs also in the last week, Hassan lined up in the Olympic marathon, which was run in sapping heat and over a brutally hilly course. She’d barely slept.

“Physically and mentally I was already tired, and the Paris course, it was very difficult,” Hassan said. “When I think about it, I get the shakes. It makes me scared. So it wasn’t just the marathon, the course was very hard.”

Hassan dropped off the lead pack mid-race and looked out of contention, but fought her way back and, using her track skills in a memorable sprint finish over the last 400m, jostled with then-world record holder Tigst Assefa and won gold in an Olympic record time.

Hassan was named World Athletics female athlete of the year, but – despite not having many competitors for the title – disputes that she is the greatest women’s distance runner of all time.

Hassan, who has held world records in the mile, the 10,000m and the 5km on road, has a personal best in the marathon of 2:13:44 – which is a few minutes behind the extraordinary world record of 2:09:56 set by Kenya’s Ruth Chepng’etich in Chicago last year.

As a relatively tough undulating course, the Sydney Marathon likely won’t be a place for Hassan to challenge the world record. But for someone who relishes dificult challenges, Sydney will suit Hassan down to the ground.