RECORD ALERT: Mohammed Ahmed smashes Canadian 5,000m record

Canadian record-holder Mohammed Ahmed took more than 10 seconds off his own 5,000m record Friday night at the Bowerman Track Club Intra-Squad Meet, running a 12:47.20. Ahmed, who is no stranger to fast times in almost all distance events, looked incredibly smooth and strong from gun to bell.  

I’m not going to be sleeping tonight. #14:23 #12:47?? @BowermanTC

— Shalane Flanagan (@ShalaneFlanagan) July 11, 2020

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Ahmed outran several world-class runners including Evan Jager, Lopez Lomong and Woody Kincaid, who weren’t able to hold his pace. With two laps to go it was only Ahmed and Lomong remaining. Even Lomong looked like he was standing still (while running a sub-13:00 5,000m) compared to Ahmed, who was cruising at almost sub-60 second laps to finish the race. Ahmed, cheered on by teammates and Canadians watching virtually across the country, crossed the line in 12:47.20 and adds to his already legendary status in the running world. 

In the last few years @Moh_Speed has been very impressive on the track. But his 12:47 5000m puts him on a whole other level. North American Record, top 10 all-time in the world!
(When Moh was born the WR was 12:56)

— Reid Coolsaet (@ReidCoolsaet) July 11, 2020

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Even more impressive, Ahmed now sits at an incredible 10th all-time in the 5,000m. That list is dominated by some of the top names in the sport’s history – Ahmed now sits among the greats. 

If this is what Ahmed can do at a summer intra-squad twilight meet, we can’t wait to see what he pulls off at the upcoming 2021 Olympic Games. 

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In the women’s results, Shelby Houlihan broke her own American 5,000m record by ten seconds, finishing in 14:23.92. Ahmed credits Houlihan’s killer last lap with inspiring him to attack in the same way. He told World Athletics after the race, “Once I saw the way Shelby and Karissa [Schweizer] attacked the last 600m, I told myself that I just had to do the same kind of thing. With two laps to go, the clock said 10:49 and I just thought, ‘you can run two (minutes) flat (for the final 800m)’. With 200m to go, I just tried to blast it as hard as I could.”

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