Propelled by a powerful 62-second closing lap, Sifan Hassan broke the world record in the women’s mile on Friday night, clocking 4:12.33 at the Herculis EBS IAAF Diamond League meeting in Monaco.
The 26-year-old Dutchwoman knocked 0.23 from the previous mark of 4:12.56 set by Svetlana Masterkova of Russia in 1996, when Hassan was just three years old.
After an opening 800 metres of 2:08.5 – Masterkova clocked 2:06.9 during her world record run – it appeared that the record would be out of reach for Hassan. But, running alone, she accelerated on the third lap, reaching 1200m in 3:10.2, exactly two seconds up on Masterkova and powered on to claim the first outdoor world record on the track in 2019.
Laura Weightman of Great Britain was second in 4:17.60 with Gabriella Debues-Stafford of Canada third in 4:17.87, a national record.
