It's easy to get distracted by all of the domestic signings and lose sight of the international acquisitions on National Signing Day.
The University of Wisconsin announced an addition to its outdoor 2021 squad on Wednesday from outside of the United States that certainly deserves your attention.
Meet Abdullahi Hassan.
The mid-distance star from Toronto might actually be familiar to those of you who followed the results from New Balance National Indoor Championships in 2019.
The Canadian shocked the field in the Championship 800m final with his 1:51.91 performance to win the title over favorite and now Oregon athlete Luis Peralta.
Hassan won an indoor national title over a talented field as a high school junior -- which is great -- but his track and field credentials get even better. His personal best performances in the mid-distance events place him as one of the top overall signings in the Class of 2020.
His 1:47.59 in the 800m is a full two seconds ahead of Kansas signee AJ Green, who is the fastest American in the Class of 2020.
Only 16 collegiate men ran faster than during the 2019 NCAA outdoor season, and half will not be returning.
| rank | time | athlete | Grade | meet |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:49.83 | 2020 | ||
| 2 | 1:50.39 | 2020 | ||
| 3 | 1:50.43 | 2020 |
Hassan is also no slouch in the 400m, where his 46.83 would be good for top ten amongst the class' quarter-milers in the United States.
| rank | time | athlete | Grade | meet |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 46.59 | 2020 | ||
| 7 | 46.71 | 2020 | ||
| 8 | 46.77 | 2020 | ||
| 9 | 47.11 | 2020 |
Moving up in distance, he records another top 10 ranked effort of 3:52.72 in the 1500m.
| rank | time | athlete | grade | meet |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 3:52.27 | 2020 | ||
| 5 | 3:52.59 | 2020 | ||
| 6 | 3:54.97 | 2020 |
Individually, his performances are fantastic, but together it's even more impressive relative to the U.S. mid-distance recruits in the Class of 2020. No other athlete domestically has his range over those three events and his combined 400m/800m PRs are over five seconds better than any other athlete in his class who have registered performances in both events.
This adds to a talented distance signing class for the Wisconsin men's program which also includes:
- Caleb Brown (OH): NBNO 2-Mile Champ, 4x State Champ, MileSplit50 No. 33
- Evan Bishop (MI): XC State Champ, Foot Locker & NXN Qualifier
- Bob Liking (IL): 14:23 3-Mile
Abdullahi Hassan has the potential to make an immediate impact for the Wisconsin program, which has a proven track record of developing national champions.
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