Interview with Sifan

Interview with Sifan Hassan, the Women’s Champion “The marathon interests me“ Sifan Hassan from the Netherlands has won the Generali Berlin Half Marathon with a new course record. She ran the 21.0975 kilometres in 1:05:45 hours. In the interview, the runner, who arrived in the Netherlands as a refugee from Ethiopia at the age of 15, reveals why she believes she can be even more successful on the road than on the track, where she has already won five World Championship medals and became the 5000 m European Champion last summer in Berlin. Sifan Hassan, how did the GENERALI BERLIN HALF MARATHON go for you? I wanted to attack the world record of 1:04:51, but was not able to run quite that fast yet. I‘m still lacking tempo training, but the season is still young. I did not even think about the course record, but now I‘m happy I got it. I know that I can run the world record someday. I want to come back to Berlin and try again. It‘s a nice course, the weather was great, the spectators too, but it was a bit windy. 46

Does that mean that you will say goodbye to the track and only compete in road races? No. For now, my focus is on the track. I have not decided yet whether I will compete on the track or in the marathon at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. In any case, I am interested in the marathon. I feel like my body is designed for the very long distances. I plan a double start in the 5,000 m and 10,000 m at the World Athletics Championships in Doha this fall. 47