"So many athletes this time of year are either maintaining or going backwards and hanging on. [Moh's] still getting better and I'm trying to be optimistic he's going to time this perfectly for Budapest."Those who watched Ahmed reach the finish line 10th in 13 minutes 1.58 seconds in Monaco might have wondered if the Somalia-born, St. Catharines, Ont.-raised runner was hanging on, despite a light race schedule this season. His personal best is 12:47.20 from July 10, 2020.
"A 12:41, 12:42-type race is what [I've] dreamt about [my] entire career," said Ahmed, who was fresh off six weeks of training at altitude in Park City, Utah after running 12:56.46 at the Golden Gala Diamond League meet in Florence, Italy. "Falling off [the lead group] pisses you off. Despite that and my mind going all sorts of places, I didn't let myself off the hook. I could have dropped out but battled hard.
It was a case of missed opportunity last summer in Eugene, Ahmed stressed, particularly in the 5,000, won by 22-year-old Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway.