PAIRS, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- World 1,500m and 10,000m champion Sifan Hassan is attempting to break the one-hour world record at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Brussels on September 4, organizers of the AG Memorial Van Damme announced.
The Dutch runner will have to cover more than 18.517km within 60 minutes to break the record set in 2008 by Ethiopia's Dire Tune.
The World Athletics assumed if Hassan is at her best, that distance should be within her capabilities. When she set a half-marathon PB of 1:05:15 in 2018, Hassan covered roughly 19.375km during the first hour.
"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," said 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," she added.
An attack on the men's one-hour world record (Haile Gebreselassie's 21.285km) had been previously announced with four-time Olympic champion Mo Farah and Belgian Bashir Abdi set to take on the challenge. They will now be joined by Norway's Sondre Moen, who has set his sights on breaking the European record of 20.944km set by Jos Hermens in 1976. Enditem
