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🥉 5000m BRONZE for @Moh_Speed 🙌
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— Team Canada (@TeamCanada) September 30, 2019
Mo Ahmed of St. Catharines, Ontario earned the bronze medal in the 5,000-metre final at the 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships on Monday.
He patiently sat in the lead group for much of the race. He let others lead for several laps before taking over with two of the 12.5 laps to go. He finished in the time of 13:01.11.
He finished behind Ethiopians Muktar Edris (12:58.85) and Selemon Barega (12:59.70).
During the final two laps, Ahmed was jostled and it appeared at one point that Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen clipped his heel causing Ahmed to lose balance and nearly trip. His focus was such that he did not lose stride and maintained his lead.
During the final lap, it appeared to be all over for Ahmed who faded from first to fifth, before digging very deep with a mere 200m to go, to change gears and fight for an opportunity to run down the final straightaway to finish third.
Fellow Canadian Justyn Knight of Toronto finished in 10th position in the time of 13:26.63.
It was a statement race and a gutsy effort for the national record holder who owns a best of 12:58.16.
Shoestrings: In the 3,000m steeplechase, Canadian champion and record holder Genevieve Lalonde did not have the race that she was looking for finishing in 14th position. She crossed the line in 9:32.29. The race was won by Kenyan Beatrice Chepkoech in 8:57.84. She was followed in by American Emma Coburn (9:02.35PB) and Gesa Krause of Germany (9:03.30NR).
Lethbridge, Alberta’s Sage Watson qualified for the semi-finals of the 400m hurdles with a strong second-place finish in heat number 5, running a 55.57. Only Rushell Clayton of Jamaica finished in front of her in 55.23. It was the 10th fastest time on the day out of 36 competitors. In qualify, especially in the final heat, she only needed to place well and run just fast enough to do so.
Canadian stream is available at www.cbc.ca
Full results and schedule are available here>> https://www.iaaf.org/results/iaaf-world-championships-in-athletics