She had little to fear, though, and produced a gutsy performance that saw her dig deep to stay with the leading pack on the many steep hills of the Paris course.
Hassan stepped it up a gear once the course flattened and ended with an all-out sprint alongside Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa and Kenya’s Hellen Obiri. First, Obiri fell away, unable to keep up, then Hassan bumped shoulders with Assefa as the Dutch athlete took a racing line through the winding finish to become the Olympic champion.
It means she has now won Olympic medals ranging from the 1,500 metres to the marathon in a stunning show of both track speed and endurance. At Tokyo 2020, Hassan completed another treble, winning bronze in the 1,500-metres, as well as the 5,000 and 10,000- metres.
The Paris course was the same brutal route used for Saturday’s men’s race. It began outside Paris’ city hall, Hotel de Ville, and passed along sights such as Palais Garnier opera house, Place Vendome, the Louvre museum, the Trocadero and the Eiffel Tower and the Palace of Versailles.
It ended with Hassan bolting down the scenic home straight in the shadow of the Esplanade des Invalides.
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