The Hague (AFP)

Ten seconds better than the previous mark!

Dutch Sifan Hassan smashed the 10,000m world record in 29:06:82 on Sunday at the Hengelo athletics meeting in the Netherlands.

Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis made a strong impression on him on pole vault by crossing the 6m10 mark, the best world performance of the year.

Under the sun, Hassan (28) erased from the shelves the old record held since August 12, 2016 by the Ethiopian Almaz Ayana (29 min 17 sec 45).

A time which had been established during the Rio Olympics.

"It's indescribable. Because even if I knew I was one day capable of breaking this record, it still had to be done. I had a good feeling before the start, while being afraid of failing", declared this weight feather (49 kilos) of 1m70.

The Dutchwoman of Ethiopian origin thus adds a new historic performance to her already well supplied hunting roster.

In addition to the 10,000m world record, she also owns the hour (18.930 km), mile (4 min 12 sec 33) and 5 km road record (14 min 44 sec).

Last October, Hassan had already set a new European record in the 10,000 meters in a race also scheduled in Hengelo, north-eastern Netherlands, with a time of 29 minutes, 36 seconds and 67.

- Duplantis is ready for Tokyo -

World champion in the 1,500m and 10,000m in Doha in 2019, an unprecedented feat among the ladies, Hassan is however preceded by a sulphurous reputation since she was trained by the American Alberto Salazar, suspended for four years in 2019 for "incitement" to doping.

Surprisingly, Hassan had estimated on the eve of the race that she was not yet at the top of her form.

"In terms of endurance, it's good. But my speed is still far from what it should be," she said on Saturday, according to the Dutch news agency ANP.

"In the end, I might have been in good shape to go under 29 minutes. But it's true that my legs were a bit heavy these past few days, maybe because of the jet lag," he said. she rectified Sunday, back a few days ago from an altitude training course in Park City (Utah) in the United States.

Hassan only took advantage of a hare during the first six of the twenty-five laps, before doing the job alone during the last nineteen laps.

Almost alone, since "LED" lights inside the track showed her the pace to follow to stay within the world record times.

Started very quickly, she never wavered, to the point of improving her personal best by 30 seconds!

"You still had to have the legs to follow the rhythm set by these flashing lights. Really, in the last 1500 meters, I was amazed," she concluded.

This summer in Tokyo, Hassan will try to win Olympic gold over 5,000 and 10,000 meters.

With an obvious favorite status.

The other events of the Hengelo reunion saw the Swedish prodigy Armand Duplantis unsurprisingly win the pole vault competition.

With a jump to 6m10, before failing in an attempt to improve his world record (6.18m), Duplantis appeared very sharp as the Tokyo Olympics approached (23 July-8 August).

The 21-year-old athlete thus regains his usual standards after having not gone higher than 5.90 m since the start of the summer season.

Briton Dina Asher-Smith won 100 meters under the eleven second mark (in 10.92) just nine hundredths off her personal best.

© 2021 AFP