Doha, Qatar: Aspire Academy-trained athlete Oumar Abakar will represent Qatar at the World Indoor Athletics Championships in Nanjing, China, which begin on March 21.
His qualification for the global event highlights the success of the ongoing collaboration between Aspire Academy and the Qatar Athletics Federation to develop world-class competitors.
Abakar, who qualified thanks to his time that broke the Qatar national record set earlier this year, will be Qatar’s only athlete at the event as he competes in the 60m hurdles.
His time of 7.67 seconds at the Aarhus Sprint ‘n’ Jump event in January broke the old record of 7.78s, set at the same meeting last year, by Aspire Academy graduate Saeed Saeed Al Absi.
Since racing in Europe, Oumar Abakar and his Aspire Academy coach Lee Christopher have been preparing for China in South Africa along with other sprinters and hurdlers.
The meeting in Aarhus, Denmark was one of three in Europe that Abakar took part in late January as he made the step up from under-20 competitions to the senior ranks.
His step up to the senior ranks comes after a strong final year as an under-20 competitor that saw him set the sixth-fastest time of 2024 for the 110m hurdles outdoors for his age group.
He also narrowly missed out on a medal at the World Under-20 Athletics Championships as he finished fourth in Peru. The move up to the senior events not only means competing against more experienced athletes but also having to race over higher hurdles – for under-20s, they are 99cm, while for senior events they are 106.7cm.
Despite the changes, Oumar insists that he has been able to adapt quickly to the challenges: “The level of the hurdles hasn’t been too hard because I’m tall and so personally it doesn’t matter too much to move from junior to senior.”
He added that racing in Europe, which included racing in front of larger crowds and saw him racing twice in a day, was an important part of his development. “It’s not easy to be honest, to travel from country to country (in a short space of time), so this is hard for me. But racing with the big guy, as I stepped, that was exciting, and it’s nice to race against them, and I like that challenge to be honest. I also enjoyed racing in front of bigger crowds too. My big aim is to continue my good form outdoors, and of course, my big dream is to qualify for September’s World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.”
