Two years ago, an inexperienced Hassan looked like she would have to drop out of her marathon debut after stopping at the roadside mid-race to stretch out a hip injury while her rivals disappeared up the road.
Instead, she reeled in the Tokyo Olympic marathon champion Peres Jepchirchir and the 2022 London champion Yalemzerf Yehualaw before sprinting to glory – but only after almost colliding with a support motorbike.
Hassan achieved her Olympic triumph last summer in similarly dramatic fashion.
Having already won bronze medals in both the 5,000m and 10,000m on the track – the events she won in Tokyo – she appeared to be fading in the marathon but recovered to produce another spectacular sprint finish.
“I don’t think I’m the greatest because, if I think that, I’m not going to improve,” Hassan said.
Discussing her future ambitions, she added: “I want to try and run four marathons in one year and see how far I can go. Maybe closer to LA, I want to see how I can handle [that].
“I want to run personal bests on the track too. I have so many things in my head, I’m really crazy.
“Many athletes are good at one thing but they don’t want to go out of their comfort zone. Nobody is perfect, I just want to try everything and see where I can go.”