Incredible drama in the final 10m decided the women’s 10,000m final at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest. Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Doha 2019 world champion Sifan Hassan had been aiming for gold, but fell in the final 10m and failed to add another title to her outstanding collection.
The Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay “pushed” Sifan Hassan in the last meters and the Dutch athlete started to look around, thereby losing her balance and collapsing on the track shortly before reaching the finish line. Gudaf Tsegay won the gold with 31:27.18 min, and Ethiopia’s complete triumph was completed by her compatriots Letesenbet Gidey with 31:28.16 min and Ejgayehu Taye with 31:28.31 min.
The Netherlands definitely didn’t have a day. Minutes after Sifan Hassan’s fall, another of the team’s superstars, indoor 400m world record holder Femke Bol, fell less than 5m before the final leg of the 4x400m medley relay, also depriving her country of honors.
Gudaf Tsegay is an Ethiopian middle- and long-distance runner. She is the Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze medalist in the women’s 5,000m. At the World Athletics Championships, Gudaf Tsegay won a bronze for the 1,500m in 2019, and silver in this event and gold for the 5,000m in 2022. She is a two-time World Indoor Championship 1,500m medalist, claiming bronze in 2016 and gold in 2022. She is the world indoor record holder for the 1,500m, setting previously in this event world U18 (current) and U20 (former) records.
