Sifan Hassan (ሲፋን ሀሰን) was born in Adama, Ethiopia, in 1993 and came to the Netherlands as a teenage refugee. She became Olympic champion at 5000 meters, 10,000 meters and the marathon.
No other woman has won all three, and few runners in history can match her range. She runs for the Netherlands, but her story starts in the green hills of Arsi, and many Ethiopians still follow her like one of their own.
From Arsi to the Netherlands
Sifan was born in Adama and grew up in the countryside of Kersa, in the Munesa district of the Arsi Zone. She ran for fun as a girl, like many children in that famous running region.
In 2008, at 15, she left Ethiopia as a refugee and reached the Netherlands. She studied to become a nurse, and she started running seriously while she was in school. She got her first real running spikes in the Netherlands. In 2011 she won the Eindhoven Half Marathon, and two years later, in November 2013, she became a Dutch citizen.
The rise was fast after that. In 2014 she won the 1500 meters at the European Championships and took silver in the 5000 meters. In 2015 she won bronze in the 1500 meters at the World Championships in Beijing, and in 2016 she became world indoor champion over the same distance in Portland.
2019: A Double Nobody Had Done
In July 2019 in Monaco, Sifan ran the mile in 4:12.33. It broke a world record that had stood for almost 23 years. She later lost it to Faith Kipyegon of Kenya in 2023.
Then came the World Championships in Doha. She won the 10,000 meters in 30:17.62, only her second race ever at that distance. A week later she won the 1500 meters in 3:51.95, a European record. No athlete, man or woman, had ever won both events at one World Championships.
In September 2020 in Brussels, she set a world record for the one hour run, covering 18,930 meters. She still holds it.
Tokyo 2020: Three Races, Three Medals
At the Tokyo Olympics, held in 2021, Sifan tried something almost nobody tries. She entered the 1500, the 5000 and the 10,000 meters.
In her 1500 meters heat she fell on the last lap, got up, and still won the heat. She went on to win gold in the 5000 meters in 14:36.79 and gold in the 10,000 meters in 29:55.32. She added bronze in the 1500 meters. She was the first athlete to win medals in all three races at one Olympics.
That summer also brought a famous moment with Ethiopia. On June 6, 2021, she set a 10,000 meters world record of 29:06.82 in Hengelo. Two days later, on the same track, Letesenbet Gidey of Ethiopia ran 29:01.03 and took the record away.
The Marathon Years
Sifan ran her first marathon in London in April 2023. She stopped twice to stretch her leg near 19 kilometers and fell behind the leaders. Then she caught them in the last few kilometers and won the sprint in 2:18:33. “I never thought I would finish a marathon,” she said after the race.
Six months later, in Chicago, she won in 2:13:44. It was a course record and, at the time, the second fastest women’s marathon ever run.
Paris 2024 was her masterpiece. She won bronze in the 5000 meters and bronze in the 10,000 meters. Then, on the last day of the Games, she lined up for the marathon. Near the end it came down to Sifan and Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia, the world record holder at the time. Sifan attacked in the last 300 meters and won by three seconds, in an Olympic record of 2:22:55.
For Ethiopian fans it was a strange feeling: a daughter of Arsi beating Ethiopia’s own star for gold. Tigst came back strong, and our list of Ethiopian marathon winners by year shows how many big races she has won since. In December 2024, World Athletics named Sifan its Female Athlete of the Year.
Sifan Hassan’s Biggest Medals
| Year | Event | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | European Championships, Zurich | Gold 1500m, silver 5000m |
| 2015 | World Championships, Beijing | Bronze 1500m |
| 2016 | World Indoor Championships, Portland | Gold 1500m |
| 2017 | World Championships, London | Bronze 5000m |
| 2018 | European Championships, Berlin | Gold 5000m |
| 2019 | World Championships, Doha | Gold 10,000m, gold 1500m |
| 2021 | Olympic Games, Tokyo | Gold 5000m, gold 10,000m, bronze 1500m |
| 2023 | London Marathon | Winner, 2:18:33 (debut) |
| 2023 | World Championships, Budapest | Silver 5000m, bronze 1500m |
| 2023 | Chicago Marathon | Winner, 2:13:44 (course record) |
| 2024 | Olympic Games, Paris | Gold marathon, bronze 5000m, bronze 10,000m |
| 2025 | Sydney Marathon | Winner, 2:18:22 (course record) |
Records and Firsts
She still holds the world record for the one hour run, at 18,930 meters. She held the mile world record from 2019 to 2023 and the 10,000 meters world record for two days in 2021. She also owns European records from the 1500 meters to the marathon.
Her coach is Tim Rowberry, who has guided her since 2018. For years her training partner was Yomif Kejelcha, the Ethiopian star of the 5000 and 10,000 meters.
2025 and 2026: Waiting for the Comeback
In 2025 Sifan ran three marathons. She was third in London in April, in 2:19:00, in a race Tigst won with a women only world record. In August she won the Sydney Marathon in 2:18:22, a course record, in the race’s first year as a World Marathon Major. In November she was sixth in New York.
Since then she has not raced. She pulled out of the London Marathon in April 2026 with an Achilles injury. In October she also withdrew from the New York City Marathon after an illness slowed her training.
“I was so excited to come back stronger,” she wrote on Instagram, “but a sickness slowed down my training, and I’m not where I wanted to be. Sometimes, things just don’t go as planned.”
She has nothing left to prove, yet her fans in the Netherlands and in Ethiopia are still waiting to see her next start line. For more Habesha athletes making a name abroad, read our profile of Naomi Girma and Lily Yohannes.
