by Alfonz Juck
Sifan Hassan, by Dan Vernon/NN Running team
Mondo Duplantis, Torun, Copernicus Cup, Feb. 2020, photo by World Athletics
Two of the most entertaining athletes in athletics, Mondo Duplantis and Sifan Hassan, will compete on Sunday, June 6, 2021, at the FBK Hengelo Meeting. The Hengelo meeting is a wonderful event, named in honor of Fanny Blankers Koen, the 4-time Olympic medalist from Holland (London 1948).
This meet, part of the WA Continental Tour, is one of my favorites. Many years it features a street shot put, and the city of Hengelo is a wonderful place to visit. I also witnessed a post-meet unofficial competition between the shot putters that included. lawn darts, foosball, and several other indoor sporting events, which were just plain fun.
HENGELO (NED): Sifan Hassan, who won world 1500m and 10,000m gold two years ago will contest her last 10,000m before the Olympics when she lines up in Hengelo on Sunday. The Dutchwoman will probably focus on the 5000m and 10,000m in Tokyo. She told nos.nl: “Although it is not 100 percent sure yet, probably it is.”
HENGELO (NED): Sunday´s FBK Games normally has 10 000 spectators in the stadium, for this time even the allowed 1500 is a great number. Meet director Hans Kloosterman adds after last year’s cancellation: “No competition for another year and participation in the World Athletics Continental Tour would be in serious danger.”
HENGELO (NED): World pole vault record-holder Armand Duplantis will headline the FBK Games. Thiago Braz and Menno Vloon will be among his challengers. European indoor 400m champion Femke Bol will race for the first time over the hurdles since her indoor breakthrough. In the 100m, Dina Asher-Smith will meet Dafne Schippers and Blessing Okagbare. Still, with the sprints, Isaac Makwala and Churandy Martina wil go at 200m while Fred Kerley races at 400m. Elliot Giles will race at 800m for the first time since going to second on the all-time list indoors and faces fellow Brits Max Burgin, the new European junior record-holder and Daniel Rowden. The 1500m has Jake Wightman and Ronald Kwemoi, while the women’s 800m sees world champion Halima Nakaayi take on Laura Muir. World No.1 Jasmine Camacho-Quinn will be trying to make up for her recent DQ in the 100m hurdles. Abderrahman Samba will go over the longer hurdles. Gianmarco Tamberi and Maksim Nedasekau will line up in the high jump. Sandra Perkovic, Yaime Perez and Denia Caballero go head to head in the discus.
