Moh Ahmed Eyes New Glory at World Cross-Country Championships
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.: Moh Ahmed has spent nearly two decades competing on the track, but the Canadian distance star says the team-driven challenge of cross-country running has always held a special appeal.
During his junior season at the University of Wisconsin, Ahmed helped the Badgers capture the 2011 NCAA cross-country title, earning All-American honors four times along the way. Now 35, Ahmed still ranks that championship among the most meaningful achievements of his decorated career.
“The thing I rank the highest in my career is probably that title,” said Ahmed, who became Canada’s first Olympic men’s 5,000-metre medallist with silver at the Tokyo Games in 2021, two years after winning world championship bronze.
A five-time NCAA All-American in track and a Big Ten outdoor conference champion in the 10,000 metres (2010) and 5,000 metres (2012), Ahmed said the shared nature of cross-country success sets it apart.
“There’s nothing like competing for conference and national titles with some of your best buddies,” he said. “I rank it the highest because I share it with six other guys — and even those who didn’t make the final roster.”
Ahmed, who was inducted into the University of Wisconsin Hall of Fame last September, will lead Canada in the men’s senior 10-kilometre race at the World Athletics Cross-Country Championships on Saturday in Tallahassee — his fourth appearance at the global event.
Joining him on the start line at 12:20 p.m. ET will be Xavier Perras-Phaneuf (LaSalle, Que.), Santiago Gaitan (Welland, Ont.), Matt Talbot (Ailsa Craig, Ont.), Evan Burke (Kearney, Ont.) and Philippe Morneau-Cartier (La Pocatière, Que.).
