Mo Ahmed breaks Canadian record en route to eighth-place finish in world 10,000
LONDON — A national record, and a Canadian best-ever eighth place finish — but Mohammed Ahmed wants more.
The 26-year-old from St. Catharines, Ont., laid down Canada’s finest performance over 10,000 metres at the world championships on Friday night, crossing in a national record time of 27 minutes 2.35 seconds. But moments after the race, his slender legs still wobbly from the effort, Ahmed said he’s thinking well beyond being Canada’s best.
“Honestly one of the things that I’m really sick of is ‘best Canadian finish,’ ‘best Canadian this,’ I want to be the best in the world,” Ahmed said. “That’s essentially what I’m working towards. I dislike hearing those words, best Canadian finish. You want to be the best in the world.”
Hometown favourite and Olympic champion Mo Farah raced to his third world title in 26:49.51, to the delight of 55,000 fans, whose roar reached ear-splitting levels when the Brit glanced over his shoulder to pull away with about 150 metres to go.