Hassan falls right before the finish and misses out on gold at the World Cup

Athlete Sifan Hassan had a dramatic ending at Budapest's 10.000-meter final of the World Cup of Athletics. She sprinted towards the finish in the top position but fell a few meters before the finish. The Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay profited from it and won gold. Hassan got back up and walked over to the finish line. She finished 11th, just ahead of countryman Diane van Es, who finished in thirteenth.

It had been a strange race for Hassan before the fall. The two-time Olympic champion (5000 and 10.000 meters) made a mistake at the start making the optics look rough for the day. Yet she got into a rhythm finding another gear, and was a part of the leaders group after an acceleration.

It looked like she was constantly running above her limits as she seemed so tired, but the born Ethiopian came to life in the final round and pushed up to the first place. She made a very long end sprint and seemed about to win her second world title on the longest sprint, but under pressure from Tsegay, who was gaining pace, she made a misstep all of a sudden and lay stretched out on the tartan. Disillusioned, she stood up and walked away.

The Netherlands relay team also missed out on a medal at the 4x400 mixed relays as leader Femke Bol fell right before the finish from a leading position. She did recover to finish third, but she did that without her stick which had slipped from her hands when she fell and rolled over the finish line making the finishing spot null and void.

The US team won the gold with a world record. Great Britain got second, with the Czech Republic taking advantage of the mistake to finish third.