Tonight in Paris, all eyes were on the women’s 10,000m final and whether Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands could defend her gold medal from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Hassan is taking on a nearly unheard-of triple at these Olympic Games. Like her last Olympic campaign, she’s competing in both the 10,000m and the 5,000m (in which she recently won bronze). However, this year, she’s replaced the 1,500m with the marathon, making it the first time she’ll compete in that event on the Olympic stage.
The task to repeat as Olympic Champion in the 10,000m, however, was going to be a challenge. Hassan was up against the best-of-the-best tonight, including the likes of Beatrice Chebet, Gudaf Tsegay, and Margaret Kipkemboi.
The race took off at quite a slow pace (for them, still blazing fast for us mere mortals) and remained that way throughout most of the race. The group stayed together, and there was quite the jostle for position, with some runners, including France’s Alessia Zarbo, taking a hard fall.
It wasn’t until 800m to go where the race really lit up and the surges in pace began to come.
By the final lap, the field had come down to about half, and in the final home straight, four runners were fighting for three medals.
Ultimately, it was Beatrice Chebet of Kenya, who won the women’s 5,000m Olympic final just a few days ago, who doubled up to win the women’s 10,000m Olympic final with a time of 30:43.25.
Taking second place and nearly catching Chebet at the line was Italy’s Nadia Battocletti, who missed out on the bronze medal in the women’s 5,000m when Faith Kipyegon got reinstated following an initial disqualification. Battocletti earned her silver with a finishing time of 30:43.35.
Rounding out the podium was Dutch legend Sifan Hassan, who matched her bronze medal from the 5,000m earlier in the week. Hassan stopped the clock with a time of 30:44.12 and will now prepare to run her Olympic marathon debut in less than 12 hours.
Find the full Olympic women’s 10,000m final results below:
| Name | Time |
|---|---|
| Beatrice Chebet | 30:43.25 |
| Nadia Battocletti | 30:43.35 |
| Sifan Hassan | 30:44.12 |
| Margaret Kipkemboi | 30:44.58 |
| Lilian Kasait Rengeruk | 30:45.04 |
| Gudaf Tsegay | 30:45.21 |
| Fotyen Tesfay | 30:46.93 |
| Weini Kelati | 30:49.98 |
| Karissa Schweizer | 30:51.99 |
| Tsigie Gebreselama | 30:54.57 |
| Parker Valby | 30:59.28 |
| Sarah Chelangat | 31:02.37 |
| Lauren Ryan | 31:13.25 |
| Francine Niyomukunzi | 31:17.02 |
| Eilish McColgan | 31:20.51 |
| Diane van Es | 31:25.51 |
| Daisy Jepkemei | 31:26.55 |
| Rino Goshima | 31:29.48 |
| Haruka Kokai | 31:44.03 |
| Klara Lukan | 31:45.15 |
| Annet Chemengich Chelangat | 31:50.41 |
| Yuka Takashima | 31:52.07 |
| Megan Keith | 33:19.92 |
| Rahel Daniel | DNF |
| Alessia Zarbo | DNF |
