Ahmed not happy as Canada’s best
Runner takes 30 seconds off 10,000 time, but not satisfied with his eighth-place finish
LONDON— No one can ask an athlete to do more than the best they’ve ever done, by a lot on a day when it matters most and in challenging conditions. Mohammed Ahmed knows all that and yet he wants so much more of himself.
“Honestly, one of the things that I’m really sick of is best Canadian finish, best Canadian this,” he said, after a Canadian-record breaking run left him in eighth place in the 10,000 metres at the world athletics championships. “I want to be the best in the world.”
That title remains, where it’s been for years, with Britain’s Mo Farah.
The 34-year-old has won every 5,000 and 10,000 outdoor title he has contested over the last six seasons, including double gold at the last two Olympic Games and world championships, and after winning Friday night he’s halfway to accomplishing the feat again.
Much like sprinter Usain Bolt, this is Farah’s final championships and he’s looking to leave the sport, where he’s been for years, on top.
Ahmed, a 26-year-old from St. Catharines, Ont., who shares both a first name and Somali heritage with Farah, stayed with the lead pack amid all the bumping and jostling for position right up until the bell lap started.
“Every bump that I took, I was like ‘All right, this is part of it, just gotta take it, and keep rolling with it,’ ” Ahmed said. “The last four or five laps, the surging of the race really got to my legs and I was in a bad place with, like, six laps to go. I was telling myself: ‘Fight, compete, fight, compete.’
“Every lap I did that, I hung on, I just didn’t have quite enough over the last lap. That last lap was absolutely brutal.”
Ahmed finished in 27:02.35m shaving an astonishing 30 seconds off his personal best time.
“If you were to tell me I’d finish eighth in 27:02, I would’ve said, ‘You’re crazy man.”
At the Rio Olympics last summer, Ahmed finished dead last in the 10,000.
“(That) was a big motivation to come back this year, and kind of take revenge a little bit,” he said. “I wanted to ball, I wanted to have fun, I wanted to fight. I did that, it just wasn’t enough.”
Ahmed rebounded from his struggles in the 10,000 in Rio to finish fourth in the 5,000, and that’s the race he runs here next week.
Every race is a chance to learn more about his physical and mental limits and raise the bar a little more.
“There’s really no shortcuts,” he said.
“I’ve always wanted to be a champion, and that’s what I’m working towards.”