WATCH: Canada's Moh Ahmed has appeal denied after getting tripped in Olympic men's 5,000m heat

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Thursday August 8, 2024
By Doug Harrison

He captured silver at 2021 Games; Paris final slated for Saturday at 1:50 p.m. ET

An appeal submitted by Canadian distance runner Moh Ahmed was rejected Wednesday shortly after the reigning Olympic silver medallist in the men's 5,000 metres was tripped late in his first-round heat in Paris.

Ahmed, who was boxed in for much of the race, had moved off the rail about 600m from the finish but got tangled with a group of runners and fell about 50 metres from the start of the final lap. He was spotted limping and grimacing after exiting the track at Stade de France.

"People were pushing quite a lot, but I thought I was holding my position," Ahmed, a native of St. Catharines, Ont., told CBC Sports' Devin Heroux minutes after the 20-athlete race that saw four others fall to the track. "Maybe I put myself in a terrible position [on the rail]. I was making my move. I just ate it hard. [Frenchman] Hugo [Hay] clipped me from the back.

"I don't know what's going to happen [with an appeal] but that sucks."

Moments after the race, CBC Sports analyst Dave Moorcroft wasn't confident Ahmed would be successful in his appeal.

"I'm pessimistic but I feel he's gotta go for it with complete conviction because the final without Moh would be a great, great shame," he said.

Moh Ahmed falls to the ground during the opening heat of the men's 5,000-metre event at Paris 2024. Fellow Canadian Thomas Farfad secures a spot in the final. 4:10
"You don't win an appeal just because you're an Olympic silver medallist. There's gotta be a context for putting an athlete [in the next race].

"With Moh, was he impeded [in his progress] or was it a trip? Maybe the context is the fact there were so many [athletes] in that heat," continued Moorcroft, who ran a world-record 13:00.41 over 5,000 metres in 1982. "It's hard to imagine, and Moh probably recognizes that this appeal is going to be a bigger challenge than the race.

The four others who fell advanced to Saturday's 1:50 p.m. ET final following referee review.

"Unfortunately, while running in the pack Moh stood on the ankle of an athlete in front of him, which caused him to fall," Athletics Canada said in a statement to The Canadian Press. "We have watched the video several times with the [World Athletics] video referee and it was clear that Moh was not impeded or jostled before this happened and so it is considered his responsibility to avoid the athlete in front.

"In these circumstances he could not be reinstated."

Canada's Moh Ahmed describes the circumstances around his fall in the men's 5,000-metre heat at Paris 2024. Ahmed says he will appeal the decision but it turned out to be unsuccessful 1:12

Great Britain's George Mills, who was part of the four-man tumble, was seen shoving Hay after the race.

"We were all going down like skittles. It seemed crazy out there," he said.

"I was tucked in on the inside on the last lap, which was where I wanted to be. I knew some sort of gap would open up in the straight. It did, and I was ready to put my foot down. Then all of a sudden, 'Boom', down I went."

By the time Ahmed regained his footing, the rest of the field was well ahead of him.

The front runners closed in a sensational 55.47, with Narve Gilje Nordås of Norway prevailing in 14:06.16 ahead of Ethiopia's Hagos Gebrhiwet (14:08.18). Ahmed, making his fourth Olympic appearance, was 16th of 19 finishers in his group in 14:15.76. The top eight from each heat are final-bound.

By not advancing, Ahmed misses an opportunity to race for his first Olympic gold medal in a weakened field.

Joshua Cheptegei, who beat the Canadian for gold in Tokyo three years ago, withdrew from the 5,000 at these Olympics, citing extreme fatigue in recovering from the men's 10,000 he won on Aug. 2.

Canada's Moh Ahmed falls during his 5,000-metre heat at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday. Shortly thereafter, his appeal to try to gain a spot in Saturday's final was rejected. (Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

Ahmed ran season best in 10,000m final

Fellow Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo, who placed eighth in last week's 10,000, also pulled out of the 5,000 final. He was fifth in the 2021 Olympic final.

In France, Ahmed ran a season-best 26:43.79 in the 10,000, 34-100ths from earning a bronze medal that went to Calgary-born Grant Fisher of Michigan.

Ahmed held a top-two position with a few laps left but fell behind in the final stretch.

"Honestly I have no regrets. I think I ran that really, really f—ing well," he told Heroux after the race.

"I ran that as well as I could," Ahmed later told reporters. "I covered every single move, I felt really good. Every time I commanded my body to move, it responded really well."

In his Olympic debut, Thomas Fafard of Repentigny, Que., claimed the eighth and last qualifying spot from the heat for the final, clocking 14:09.37 in a slowly paced race.

"I was pretty confident that my fitness was there but the heat was really strong," said Fafard, noting there was a chance to be in the mix to qualify for the final with a strong effort.

"[My coach] Felix [Antoine-Lapointe] told me that no matter what [I needed] to push through the finish line because you never know what could happen. And we had a great example of anything can happen."

At the recent Olympic trials in Montreal, the 25-year-old's second-place effort behind Ahmed represented his debut race as a professional with Brooks. His personal best is 13:05.07, set on May 7 in Brussels.

At times during Wednesday's race, Fafard and Ahmed were beside each other running stride for stride.

Ben Flanagan of Kitchener, Ont., was also appearing in his first Olympics. He went 13:59.23 for 17th of 19 finishers in the second heat.

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