Interview: Mohammed Ahmed on his 5,000m Canadian record

The Somali-born Canadian shocked the running scene with a late-season surge, breaking the 17 year old record.

Mohammed Ahmed is still trying to figure out what happened in the world championship 5,000m last month, even after breaking the national 5,000m record a few weeks later, but he has a lot to be happy about one year before the Rio Olympics.

“I was devastated, actually,” says Ahmed. “Honestly, I was really hoping for at least a top five finish. Some people might see that statement and say ‘Moh, I think 12th is the best you could have done.’ Honestly, I think I could have been top five on a good day.”

2015 saw the St. Catharines, Ont., native join a professional training group, the Bowerman Track Club, in January, which took him to Portland, Ore., the home of Nike and many of North America’s best runners.

After finishing his eligibility at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he began looking for a professional team. He liked the idea of joining Jerry Schumacher’s group.

“I always dreamed about training with his group,” Ahmed says of the man who is now his coach.

Schumacher made a name for himself as a coach with Wisconsin prior to Ahmed’s arrival at the school and is also an alumni of the team. There were a lot of connections. Schumacher also coached Canadian Simon Bairu, both at Wisconsin and as a professional, but for Ahmed to join to Nike-sponsored club he needed a sponsorship offer from the company.

“After finishing my eligibility at Wisconsin it was kind of like ‘OK, what companies are intersted in me?'” says Ahmed. “It took until January for me to get any sort of offer. To make a long story short, Nike was interested. I spoke with Jerry Schumacher shortly after I finished my NCAA eligibility and because of that we had a connection.”

The first season in Portland has been an up and down one for the 24-year-old. Ahmed missed the world championship standard for the 10,000m by less than two seconds, meaning he would have to change his focus to the 5,000m, not what he and Schumacher had planned. They pivoted the focus to the 5,000m, a decision which ended in a national record over the distance but came with a major upset along the way.

Ahmed still qualified to race the 10,000m at the Pan Am Games in Toronto and beat a strong field of athletes to win gold at home.

“I definitely want other gold medals – world and Olympic gold medals,” he said after the win in Toronto. “Those are still the “A” standard, but this is great.”

In Beijing, Ahmed ran a strong heat in the 5,000m and qualified for the final, but fell to a distant 12th in the final, far back from his goal.

“I was discouraged. […] I watched that race over and over again and I’m still really looking for some answers,” says Ahmed.

But qualifying for the final meant he had an offer to extend his season a bit longer and race the last Diamond League in Brussels. The poor performance gave him a desire to finish the season on the better note, which resulted in a national record in the 5,000m of 13:10.10.

The Somali-born Canadian sets high standards for himself, and it’s clear he isn’t thrilled with how his season played out, even after becoming the fastest Canadian ever over the distance.

“I think it was disappointing a little bit, but it was good to really end it on a good note,” says Ahmed to describe his season. “It was an up and down kind of season and I think—I definitely expected a little bit more out of myself. I didn’t really achieve all of the goals that I set out to achieve.”

But Ahmed has a lot to look ahead to, and seems in a good position one year away from the Rio Olympics. He’s more experienced than in 2012 when he first competed at the London Olympics. The big crowds don’t intimidate him anymore and rather than feeling as though he’s racing above his ability with the best in the world, he belong there, alongside the likes of Mo Farah.

Ahmed will spend a few weeks at home before heading back to Portland to get ready for world indoors which will be held there. He says the Bowerman team will be focusing on the event; it’s a bit like a home game for them.

Still, the goal remains the Olympics next summer in Rio and when speaking with him, though he doesn’t make any open predictions, you get the feeling he won’t be satisfied with anything short of a medal.