Sifan Hassan makes history as first Dutch person to be named best athlete in the world

Sifan Hassan was chosen as the best athlete in the world for 2024 at the awards gala of the global association World Athletics in Monaco. The Olympic marathon champion is the first Dutch athlete to receive this honor. She won the title in the so-called 'out of stadium' category, or the road races.

Hassan won the election over Ruth Chepngetich, the other finalist. The Kenyan won the Chicago marathon this fall in a world record of 2:09:56.

The 31-year-old Hassan was the first woman ever to combine the 5,000 and 10,000 meter track distances with the maratho at the Games in Paris. She won bronze in both the 5,000 and 10,000 meters. There was one day of rest between the latter distance and the marathon and Hassan still managed to run to gold at the 42.195 kilometers. She defeated the Ethiopian Tigist Assefa in a breathtaking final sprint.

Hassan has been nominated for the honorary title several times in her career, including in 2019 and 2021. The Dutch woman of Ethiopian descent won two world titles (1500 meters and 10,000 meters) in 2019 and in 2021 she was the queen of the Games in Tokyo with Olympic gold on the 5000 and 10,000 meters and bronze on the 1500 meters. Hassan was the first athlete to combine these three distances at a championship.

Niels Laros was not chosen as talent of the year in the world. The 19-year-old middle distance runner from Oosterhout was one of the three finalists, but he did not win any prizes. Italian long jumper Mattia Furlani won the title. Laros was named European talent of the year in October.

This year he finished sixth in the Olympic final in Paris of the 1500 meters in a European junior record (under 20 years) of 3.29.54. He also improved the junior world record for the 1000 meters at the FBK Games in Hengelo to 2.14.37.