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 ran out of gears in a deep field and crossed the finish line fourth in a pack of five, less than a second behind world record holder Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda — who won the race in an Olympic-record time of 26 minutes, 43.14 seconds.
Ahmed buckled across the finish line, stopping the clock in 26:43.79, just a blink of an eye behind his former training partner, American Grant Fisher, who captured bronze in 26:43.46 seconds. Ethiopia’s Berihu Aregawi took silver in 26:43.44.
“I thought I had some gears, I was cueing myself as hard as I could,” Ahmed said. “I think I executed that race really, really well, I just didn’t have anything left in the last 50.”
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, Cheptegei outran him and he faded to finish sixth. Less than a week later, Ahmed 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 is turning his attention to the heats that get underway on Aug. 7.
“A Palestinian poet said ‘There is no tomorrow in yesterday, so let us advance,’ and that’s what I’m trying to do,” Ahmed said.
At the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Ahmed finished seventh in the 5,000m and sixth in the 10,000m. Those results left him “bitterly disappointed” and hungry to prove himself in a championship race.
“I didn’t care what I did, I just put myself back in training and this is what I was training for,” he said.
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.