Hassan wins marathon to claim third Paris medal

The Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan won gold in the women’s marathon in a sprint finish to claim her third medal of the Paris Olympics.

The 31-year-old accelerated in the final 200 metres to cross the line in an Olympic record two hours 22 minutes 55 seconds, three seconds ahead of Ethiopian Tigst Assefa.

Hassan’s victory came only two days after she won bronze in the 10,000m and six days after 5,000m bronze.

“I have no words. Every moment in the race I was regretting that I ran the 5,000m and 10,000m. I was telling myself if I hadn’t done that, I would feel great today,” said Hassan.

“The moment I started to feel good was at 20km, I felt so good. Then I knew I wanted gold.”

Kenya’s Hellen Obiri finished third, 12 seconds behind Assefa.

Britain’s Clara Evans was 46th in 2:33:01 and Rose Harvey 78th in 2:51:03, while Calli Hauger-Thackery did not finish.

With temperatures touching 24C despite an 08:00 race start, several athletes used ice packs during the race and others carried bottles of water for long periods.

Hassan won 5,000m and 10,000m gold and 1500m bronze at Tokyo 2020.