Double success for Sifan Hassan in Hengelo

Dutch runner scores impressive victories over 1500m and 10,000m at FBK Games as British sprinters Daryll Neita and Reece Prescod are also in winning form

Just six weeks after her extraordinary marathon win in London, Sifan Hassan returned to racing with back-to-back victories over 10,000m and 1500m at the FBK Games in Hengelo.

The 30-year-old enjoys a busy racing schedule. In 2021 she won Olympic 5000m and 10,000m golds plus 1500m bronze at the Tokyo Olympics and here she clocked a world-leading time of 29:37.80 for 10,000m on Saturday (June 3) before returning less than 24 hours later to win the 1500m in 3:58.12.

In the 10,000m she still had company from Grace Loibach Nawowuna of Kenya with a lap to go, but she unleashed her famed finishing sprint to pull 10 seconds clear, as Nawowuna, who is only 19, clocked 29:47.42. Then, in the 1500m, she was challenged by another up-and-coming Kenyan runner, Nelly Chepchirchir, but surged clear in the home straight to win by 84 hundredths of a second.

“I felt very easy in the competition,” she said after the 1500m. “I followed and the last 200 metres, I finished strong. I didn’t push myself and I still finished very well in the sprint.”

Also on Sunday at this Continental Tour Gold meeting, Mondo Duplantis – a regular in Hengelo – cleared a meeting record of 6.11m but was unable to improve his world record to 6.23m.

“I’m just trying to focus on that gold medal and right now, I’m just going to go meet by meet, try to get a little bit better every time to make sure I’m nice and sharp for the big dance,” he said, looking forward to the World Championships in Budapest in August.

Daryll Neita and Reece Prescod scored sprints victories for Britain in the 100m races. The Italian-based training partners showed great early-season form as Prescod clocked a World Championships qualifying mark of 9.99 (0.4) ahead of Yohan Blake’s 10.05 with Raphael Bouju, a former English Schools winner who now runs for Netherlands, third in 10.09.

Neita, meanwhile, ran 11.05 (0.1) ahead of Bassant Hemida, the Egyptian running 11.16.

It was a near miss for another Brit in the men’s 1500m, though, as Elliot Giles was pipped to by Andrew Coscoran of Ireland – 3:37.97 to 3:38.00.

Grant Holloway and Nia Ali claimed sprint hurdles wins with Holloway running a meeting record 13.03 (0.4) and Ali 12.61 (0.2).

Elsewhere, Femke Bol was in commanding form on home soil in the flat 400m as she ran a meeting record of 50.11 to win comfortably.

Rising Italian star Mattia Furlani, 18, won the long jump with 8.24m (-0.7) while Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine winning the women’s high jump with 2.00m.

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