Hassan shows spirit to reach 1500m world final

Ethiopia-born 5,000m/10,000m Olympic champion Sifan Hassan showed fighting spirit to ease into the final, timing a season’s best 3min 55.48sec to finish third in her semi-final behind winner Faith Kipyegon and Diribe Welteji of Ethiopia.

Sifan Hassan on Sunday rebounded from her dramatic fall metres from the finish of the 10,000m world final to reach the 1500m final at the World Athletics Championships.

The 30-year-old Dutch runner bore evidence of Saturday's fall with bandages on her knees and an elbow but it was more what damage it had inflicted on her morale that was to be tested in Budapest.

However, the Ethiopia-born 5,000m/10,000m Olympic champion showed fighting spirit to ease into Tuesday's final, timing a season's best 3min 55.48sec to finish third in her semi-final behind winner Faith Kipyegon and Diribe Welteji of Ethiopia.

Hassan selflessly expressed how pleased she was for her 18-year-old male teammate Niels Laros, who reached the men's final.

She admitted that she had not felt the best when she woke up on Sunday feeling the effects of her tumble, as she battled Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay for gold.

"In the morning I woke up with pain in my whole body," she said.

"It really hurts everywhere but mentally I'm good.