Sifan Hassan announced on Wednesday that she will run the marathon in Paris in addition to defending her Olympic 5,000 and 10,000 meter titles.
“I am a curious person looking forward to the challenges, and trying to find out what is possible,” Hassan said on social media. “I love the journey as much as the challenge.”
The Dutch runner will have a busy schedule ahead of her as the 5,000m heats are on Friday, with the final on Monday. The 10,000m final is on Friday, Aug. 9 and the marathon on Sunday, Aug. 11.
“Did I balance speed on the track with enough endurance in the marathon? Let’s find out together,” Hassan added. “It’s not easy to face the unknown but my curiosity has driven all my training towards this goal.”
This will not be the first time the 31-year-old has attempted three Olympic events in a short amount of time. At the Tokyo Games in 2001 she became the first athlete ever to win medals in the 1,500m, 5,000m and 10,000m (two gold, one bronze).
She was entered to also run the 1,500m in Paris but dropped the event to focus on the marathon. In Tokyo, she bounced back from a fall in the 1,500m to win the bronze and later gold in the 5,000m and 10,000m.
Hassan stunned the running world last year when she won the 2023 London Marathon in her debut in 2:18:33 despite stopping half way through the race deal with an apparent leg injury before stopping again to stretch. After the win, she revealed that she was dealing with issues with her hip.
But if she completes all three events in Paris in nine days, Hassan would have run 63 kilometers (about 39 miles) of Olympic competition.
