Tokyo Olympics | Incredible Sifan Hassan achieves the long-distance double

A pulsating final night of action in the athletics competition saw Dutch distance runner Sifan Hassan complete an incredible double with victory in the 10,000m while U.S.A star Allyson Felix brought the curtain down on her 17-year Olympic career with a record-extending relay gold.

Norway celebrated gold in the men’s 1,500m with Jakob Ingebrigtsen downing Kenya’s Timothy Cheruiyot in a thrilling duel while Russian athlete Mariya Lasitskene won the women’s high jump.

The Netherlands’ brilliant Hassan raced to her second gold of the games after an earlier win in the 5,000m. Twenty-four hours earlier, Hassan had taken bronze in the 1,500m final, part of an audacious bid for an Olympic treble.

Packed schedule

Hassan was in action on five days of the nine-day schedule of track and field, running more than 61 laps in total en route to her three-medal haul.

“I am just so thankful, and I don’t think I could have done any better than this,” said Hassan. “During the medal ceremony I was thinking: ‘It is over. Now you can sleep!’”

In the 10,000m, Hassan clocked 29min 55.32sec for gold, with Bahrain’s Kalkidan Gezahegne, also born in Ethiopia, claiming silver in 29:56.18.

World-record holder Letesenbet Gidey of Ethiopia, after leading for all but two kilometres of the 25-lap race, claimed bronze in 30:01.72.

There was another superb tactical performance in the men’s 1,500m as Norway’s Ingebrigtsen won in an Olympic record of 3min 28.32sec.

The 20-year-old added Olympic gold to his European title, easing home after passing long-time leader Timothy Cheruiyot of Kenya, who took silver in 3:29.01.

In the men’s and women’s 4x400m relays, the United States ended what has been a difficult campaign at the Olympic Stadium with a pair of golds.

Redemption

In the women’s high jump, three-time world champion Mariya Lasitskene finally won her first Olympic title with a best of 2.04m. The 28-year-old, who was barred from competing in the 2016 Rio Olympics due to Russia’s doping scandal, held off a stiff challenge from Australian Nicola McDermott.