World Athletics Outdoor Championships – News – Ethiopians Sweep Women’s 10,000m at World Athletics Championships

ETHIOPIAN SWEEP WOMEN’S 10,000M AT WORLD ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
By David Monti, @d9monti
(c) 2023 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved – Used with permisison.

BUDAPEST (19-Aug) — In a nail-biting race with a painfully slow start and a rough and tumble finish, the Ethiopian trio of Gudaf Tsegay, Letesenbet Gidey and Ejgayehu Taye took gold, silver and bronze, respectively, in the women’s 10,000m on the first day of the 2023 World Athletics Championships at the brand new National Athletics Center here.  It was the third podium sweep by Ethiopian women at a world championships in this discipline, a feat achieved previously in Helsinki in 2005 (Tirunesh Dibaba, Birhane Adere and Ejagayou Dibaba), and in Edmonton in 2001 (Derartu Tulu, Birhane Adere and Gete Wami).

“We never give up,” a delighted Tsegay told reporters after the race.

But such an outcome was a long shot given that the powerful Dutchwoman Sifan Hassan was entered in the race and had the audacious goal of winning the 1500m, 5000m and 10,000m at these championships.  She won her 1500m preliminary heat earlier today (see below), and had a plan to use her superior speed to win tonight.  And she nearly did it, but you’d never know that from her 11th place finish.

“It was kind of crazy,” said American Alicia Monson, who finished fifth, when asked about the final 800 meters of the race.

Until that point, it was a classic championship-style race.  The field of 22 women jogged through the first kilometer in 3:37.6 led by American Natosha Rogers, then Finland’s Camilla Richardsson took over and ran at the front through 5000m in 16:23.55.  Hassan was in 15th place, in no hurry to join the leaders.

Richardsson had been running laps in the 75 to 77-second range, a pace that the entire field could handle.  It wasn’t until about 6000m that the pace quickened when Tsegay, the 2022 world 5000m champion, took over at the front.  Working with her teammates, she clocked 72.1, 72.3 and 73.5 through 7200m and the race sudden got more serious.  Still, nothing of real consequence would happen until there were two laps to go when Gidey squeezed it down to 71-flat and the big players decided to show their cards.  Hassan moved up from ninth place the lap before to fourth place at the bell.  She held steady until the beginning of the backstretch where she unleashed her explosive kick for the finish.  Tsegay responded, but was still trailing the Dutchwoman with 200 to go.

Charging down the homestretch, Hassan…