PARIS — Sifan Hassan ended her mammoth week with a gold in the women’s marathon on Sunday, completing her remarkable treble bid to medal in the 5,000-metres, 10,000-metres and marathon.
No athlete has ever attempted to run all three distances in the Olympic in 40 years. Only one other athlete, the great Czech runner Emil Zátopek, has ever medalled in all three events when he swept all three golds in Helsinki in 1952.
Hassan broke the Olympic record in the marathon with a timing of 2:22:55. Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa took silver and Kenya’s Hellen Obiri won bronze.
“I have no words. Every moment in the race I was regretting that I ran the 5000m and 10,000m. I was telling myself if I hadn’t done that, I would feel great today,” Hassan said after the race.
“From the beginning to the end, it was so hard. Every step of the way. I was thinking, ‘Why did I do that? What is wrong with me?’ If I hadn’t done it, I would feel so comfortable here.
“The moment I started to feel good at 20 kilometres, I felt so good. Then I knew I wanted gold. But everybody else was fresh and all I was thinking was, ‘When are they going to break? They’re going to go hard, they’re…
