Career

Born in Nazreth in Ethiopia, she left the country as a refugee and arrived in the Netherlands in 2008 at age fifteen. She began running while undertaking studies to become a nurse She was also runner-up at two cross country races (Sylvestercross and Mol Lotto Cross Cup).

Sifan made her breakthrough in the 2013 season.

On the 2013 IAAF Diamond League circuit she was runner-up in the 1500 m at Athletissima with a personal best of 4:03.73 minutes and was third at the DN Galan 3000 m with a best of 8:32.53 minutes – this time ranked her the fourth fastest in the world that year. She gained Dutch citizenship in November 2013 and the following month she made her first appearance for her adopted country.

At the beginning of 2014 she ran a world leading time of 8:45.32 minutes for the 3000 m at the Weltklasse in Karlsruhe, then broke the Dutch record in the indoor 1500 m with a run of 4:05.34 minutes at the Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix. 800 metres - 1:58.50 (Beijing National Stadium, 7 August 2015)

1000 metres - 2:34.68 (Hengelo (Blankers-Koen Stadion), 24 May 2015)

1500 metres - 3:56.05 (Monaco (Stade Louis II, 17 July 2015)

One Mile - 4:18.20 (Bruxelles (Boudewijnstadion, 11 September 2015)

3000 metres - 8:29.38 (Bruxelles (Boudewijnstadion), 05 September

2014)

5000 metres - 14:59.23 (Palo Alto, California, 04 May 2014)

Indoor personal bests

800 metres - 2:04.16 (Gent (Topsporthal), 09 February

2014)

1500 metres - 4:00.46 (Stockholm (Globe Arena), 19 February 2015)

3000 metres - 8:45.32 (Karlsruhe (Europahalle), 01 February

Achievements

• She is the Dutch indoor record holder for the 1500 metres and 3000 metres and was the under-23 winner at the 2013 European Cross Country Championships. Hassan won the gold medal at 1500 m at the European Athletics Championships Zürich 2014. Affiliated with Eindhoven Atletiek, she entered the Eindhoven Half Marathon in 2011 and won the race with a time of 77:10 minutes. She won those races in 2012, as well as the 3000 m at the Leiden Gouden Spike meeting. She ran an 800 metres best of 2:00.86 minutes to win at the Kirkwall Baptist Church Night of Athletics and took wins over 1500 m at the Nijmegen Global Athletics and Golden Spike Ostrava meetings At the 2013 European Cross Country Championships she won the gold medal in the under-23 category and helped the Dutch team to third in the rankings. She also won the Warandeloop and Lotto Cross Cup Brussels races that winter. At the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, Hassan won the bronze medal in the 1500 meters. She became the second female Dutch athlete ever to win a medal at the World Championships, after Dafne Schippers. She was the third female Dutch winner at the 2015 European Cross Country Championships, following in the footsteps of fellow African migrants Hilda Kibet and Lornah Kiplagat.