Hassan scored two remarkable victories on the Olympic track Monday.
The 1,500-meter heat should have been a no-fuss warmup for Hassan’s main event later in the day.
Most runners might have called it a day, and Hassan said the thought crossed her mind for a split second.
What came next was one of the most remarkable 60-second laps in racing, as Hassan moved from the back of the pack, picking off runner after runner.
Lingering in the back, then the middle of the pack for the first 11 laps on a track still soaked by an earlier rainstorm, she kicked things in with about 250 meters left.
Hassan was 1.57 seconds ahead of Obiri, and Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay took bronze.
At around the time she was wrapping up, the United States breathed a big sigh of relief when it captured its first gold medal of the track meet.
Valarie Allman opened the final with a throw of 68.98 meters , then waited through an hourlong rain delay and nearly 50 throws by her competition.
They celebrated by grasping hands and thrusting their fists to the sky, then placing their gold medals around each other’s necks as they shared the top step on the podium.
Only one will reach that step in the 400 hurdles, where Americans Dalilah Muhammad and Sydney McLaughlin kept their showdown on track.
It will include defending champion Elaine Thompson-Herah and her Jamaican rival, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, each of whom were gassed.