Mohammed Ahmed of St. Catharines, Ontario has won an Olympic silver medal for Canada. On Friday, Ahmed placed second in the men’s 5000m, becoming the first ever Canadian Olympic medalist in the history of the event.
Ahmed posted a second place time of 12 minutes, 58.61 seconds. Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda won the gold medal with a time of 12:58.15. Paul Chelimo of the United States won the bronze medal with a time of 12:59.05. Ahmed reached the podium by 0.56 seconds over Nicholas Kipkorir Kimeli of Kenya, who had a fourth place time of 12:59.17.
Ahmed won the bronze medal in the men’s 5000 metres at the 2019 World Track and Field Championships in Doha, Qatar with a time of 13 minutes, one minute and one second. He also holds the Canadian national record in the men’s 5000 metres. At the Portland Intrasquad Meet II, Ahmed had a time of 12:47.20 on July 10, 2020, two weeks before when the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo were to take place.
Cheptegei is one of two Ugandans to win an Olympic gold medal at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021. The other was Peruth Chemutai in the women’s 3000 metre steeplechase.
Ahmed’s silver medal was Canada’s 20th medal at the 2020 Olympic Games in 2021. It was the second straight Olympic Summer Games that Canada reached the 20-medal mark. They won 22 medals at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
