Mississippi State College’s Abdullahi Hassan demolished his 800m season opener on Saturday at Orange & Purple Invitational in Clemson, S.C. The Scarborough, Ont., native clocked a smouldering 1:45.53–smashing his private greatest whereas narrowly lacking Olympic medallist Marco Arop‘s Canadian file. Hassan’s time at the moment leads the NCAA and ranks because the second-fastest 800m efficiency on the planet this 12 months.
Though Arop’s indoor file of 1:45.50, set simply final 12 months in Fayetteville, N.C., was three-hundredths of a second out of attain, Hassan nonetheless managed to take down Arop’s Clemson College facility file of 1:45.90. His time from Saturday additionally demolished Mississippi’s program file and marks the sixth-fastest collegiate time ever.
Hassan’s earlier private greatest, which he set in the course of the 2021 outside season, stood at 1:46.16. The 22-year-old is likely one of the most up-to-date additions to the Mississippi State observe workforce, however dominating the NCAA scene is nothing new for Hassan. In his undergraduate research, he competed for the College of Wisconsin, the place he held the college file with time of 1:46.61, and, on 4 events, earned All-American honours. Hassan graduated within the spring of 2024 earlier than transferring to Mississippi for his grasp’s.
Hassan represented Group Canada on the 2021 World Athletics U20 Championships in Nairobi, Kenya, the place he clinched bronze within the 800m. He additionally earned a spot on the Canadian squad headed to the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest.
On Jan. 17, the Mississippi State Bulldog opened his indoor season on the Vanderbilt Invitational in Nashville, Tenn., making his 1,000m debut. He raced to speedy 2:20.06–the ninth-fastest time within the NCAA to this point this 12 months.