PARIS – With 300m to go, Canada’s Mohammed Ahmed started to kick. A 10,000 metre Olympic medal, which he had been tantalizingly close to three years ago, was within his reach. But he couldn’t hold the pace and crossed the finish in a pack of five. Of those, he was fourth, less than a second off winner Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda who won the race in an Olympic record time of 26 minutes, 43.14 seconds.
Canada has never won an Olympic medal in the men’s 10,000m, but at the 2020 Games in Tokyo, Ahmed appeared headed for the podium with less than 500 metres to go. Then too, he faded and finished sixth. Less than a week later, he stormed to silver in his stronger event, the 5,000m, and won Canada’s first medal over that distance.
Ahmed, 33, will again be contesting the 5,000m in these Games and will line up in the heats Aug. 7.
After a disappointing start to the year — Ahmed indefinitely delayed his half marathon debut due to a minor hamstring injury — he ran the second-fastest 10,000m of his career in March, dipping under the Olympic standard and earning early nomination to the Canadian Olympic team. He came into this event ranked fifth in the world.
Ahmed was born in Somalia, grew up in St. Catharines, Ont., and now trains with Bowerman Track Club south of the border.