18,517 km. That is the distance that Hassan will have to cover if she wants to set a new World Record in the Women’s One Hour event. The World Record is now owned by Dire Tune from Ethiopia. Hassan is familiar with the track in the King Baudouin Stadium. Last year the Dutchwoman was the impressive winner of the 5000m in the Diamond League Final. A few weeks later the now 27 year old Hassan went into the history books when she won gold medals in both the 1500m and the 10000m at the World Championships in Doha. In 2019 Hassan also broke the World Mile Record.
The One Hour World Record requires a lot more stamina, but Hassan is firmly convinced that she can break the record. “This is a strange and difficult season, but I have been able to continue my training as well as I could and I feel fit and healthy,” says Hassan. “There are very few occasions to compete these days and I am delighted with the invitation from the AG Memorial Van Damme to attack the One Hour World Record. It is a strong record but I take the challenge with both hands and I believe that I’m in the right shape to succeed !”
An attack on the Men’s One Hour World Record (Haile Gebreselassie 21,285km) was already announced earlier on. Four times Olympic Champion Mo Farah and Belgian Bashir Abdi are taking on this challenge and they are now joined by Sondre Moen. The Norvegian has set his sights on breaking the European Record from Jos Hermens. Last Saturday Moen already broke that mark, but his performance is still subject to ratification and may not be certified. A National Record for Belgium is also in the air with Bashir Abdi aiming to break the former World Record of Gaston Roelants (20,784km), set in 1972 in the same stadium.
A Men’s 1500m is added to the Program of the 44th Memorial Van Damme. Norvegian brothers Henrik, Filip and Jacob Ingebrigtsen will headline this event. Two years ago Jacob won a historic double at the European Championships in Berlin when he won both the 1500m and the 5000m, at that time at the age of 17 years only ! That was un unprecedented feat ! His brothers Henrik in 2012 and Filip in 2016 als became European 1500m Champions, which makes it a fairytale story.
This year the AG Memorial Van Damme will exceptionally be held behind closed doors, but the action can be followed live on VRT/Sporza and RTBf.
PROGRAM AG MEMORIAL VAN DAMME 2020:
18:45Opening
18:47Men 100m Wheelers
18:55Women One hour race
19:40Start tv broadcasting
20:05Men Pole vault
20:09Women 100m hurdles - Triathlon
20:17Women 400m
20:25Women Shot put- Thriatlon
20:26Women 100m Blades
20:33Men 200m
20:39Men 1500m
20:46Men One hour race
20:55Women High jump- Triathlon
21:52Mixed 4x400m relay
21:58Closure
22:00End
