Who won the first Millicent Fawcett Mile at the 2018 Anniversary Games?

Sifan Hassan won the first Millicent Fawcett Mile at the 2018 Anniversary Games. She finished in 4:14.71 at London Stadium on 22 July 2018, defeating Gudaf Tsegay and Hellen Obiri in a remarkably fast inaugural race.

The event was created to commemorate Millicent Fawcett and the centenary of the 1918 Representation of the People Act, which expanded voting rights for women in Britain. Fawcett was a leading suffrage campaigner and president of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies. Naming the women’s mile after her linked elite athletics with that anniversary.

Hassan’s victory was not a routine tactical mile. Her 4:14.71 was a Dutch record and Diamond League record at the time, while Tsegay ran 4:16.14 and Obiri set a Kenyan record of 4:16.15 in third. Laura Muir, one of the pre-race attractions, finished fifth, which helps explain why the race is sometimes mistakenly associated with her.