Moh Ahmed has been undergoing an intense injury rehab the past five weeks, his coach says, to prepare for two events at his seventh World Athletics Championships.
On July 31, the veteran distance runner pulled up about 400 metres from the finish line in the men’s 5,000 final, clutching his left calf at the Canadian track and field championships in Ottawa.
Ahmed was later diagnosed with a strained calf, or pulled muscle, confirmed by ultrasound.
The treatment in Oregon, where he lives and trains with Nike’s Swoosh Track Club (formerly Bowerman Track Club), has included manual therapy, dry needling and massage three or four times per week. It has also featured progressive loading protocol that involves gradually increasing the physical demand on the injured tissues through pain-free exercise.
Furthermore, Ahmed supported his fitness with cross-training and a Boost microgravity treadmill to run more miles with less impact.
“He has had a great therapy team to manage the injury,” Jerry Schumacher, head coach of Swoosh’s training hub in Eugene, told CBC Sports.
“Moh has been doing hard track workouts for several weeks now and is rounding into good form.”
Ahmed did not respond to an interview request from CBC Sports.
‘He knows his body better than anyone’
Despite the injury, the 34-year-old Ahmed is scheduled to race the 5,000 and 10,000 at worlds in Tokyo.
“We discussed a few scenarios and what would be an optimal schedule for him, but ultimately, I left the decision up to him,” said Schumacher, who also guides the University of Oregon cross-country and track and field program. “He knows his body better than anyone, and I trust him to make that call at this point in his career.”
In March, Ahmed was scratched from his debut half marathon in New York City due to back spasms and adductor issues. Adductors are a group of muscles that bring the leg inward towards the body. Schumacher said the St. Catharines, Ont., native has not experienced any setbacks from the back spasms or adductor issues.
Ottawa was the site of Ahmed’s lone race this season and he’ll be competing against others in Tokyo with at least a handful of competitions on their 2025 race card.
Live coverage of the World Athletics Championships on CBC Sports begins Friday and runs through the final day of the event in Tokyo on Sept. 21. Watch all the action on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem, and click here for the full broadcast details.
However, Schumacher doesn’t seem concerned, even though it has been over a year since Ahmed’s most recent completed race. He finished the Golden Gala Diamond League event seventh in the 5,000 with a 12-minute 54.90-second clocking on Aug. 30, 2024.
“There is no perfect season for any athlete. The preparation is not what we would have scripted going into the [world] championships,” Schumacher said, “but Moh is a seasoned veteran and has vast experience competing at this level.
“This gives him innate confidence he can compete without needing as many races to provide that confidence.
“In past years,” continued Schumacher, “he has not required many races to reach peak form, and we have done our best to simulate competition during his workouts. He has responded very well to these.”
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Narrowly missed 2024 Olympic bronze
Ahmed will be seeking his first world championship medal since 2019 bronze in the 5,000, having finished off the podium in both distances at worlds in 2022 and 2023.
In the Olympic 10,000 final last Aug. 2, Ahmed worked his way to second spot 100 metres from the finish line but within seconds two runners blew by him. The Canadian placed fourth in 26 minutes 43.79 seconds, 34-100ths slower than the bronze medallist.
This past spring, Schumacher still marvelled at how Ahmed navigated the Olympic 10,000 — the way he executed his race, the decision-making, how he positioned himself and his final move on the 25th and last lap.
That might have been the best 10,000 metres he’s ever run,” Schumacher said. “I know he’s run faster [with a 26:34.14 personal best] but how he raced it … he wasn’t trying to get on the podium. He tried to win the gold medal.
“It’s hard to walk away from the track when you’re running that well against world-class competition.”
WATCH | Ahmed’s memorable effort in Paris Olympic 10,000m final:
Talk of Ahmed making the transition to road racing picked up early this year but has since quieted. He won the Ottawa 10K road race in 2023 for his first Canadian 10K Championships title.
Could this be 2021 Olympic silver medallist’s last world championships on the track?
“Moh hasn’t said much [recently] about switching from the track to the road,” said Schumacher. “I think he still really enjoys the track. He definitely hasn’t said anything about this being his last major championship on the track.”
After the world championships, Ahmed will begin work as a coach with the Niagara Olympic Club in St. Catharines, where his running career began more than 20 years ago. His younger brother, Ibrahim, joined the club last year and oversees the distance running program.
Elmore lost about 6 weeks of training
Meanwhile, somewhat lost in Athletics Canada’s recent unveiling of its 59-member team for Tokyo was the announcement of marathoner Malindi Elmore withdrawing from her world championship debut because of injury.
The 45-year-old from Kelowna, B.C., was dealing with posterior tibial tendonitis in her right foot during the Canadian 10K Road Running Championships on May 24 in Ottawa, but it flared up in a critical pre-world championships training session on July 3.
“I had to modify a lot over the summer, missed about six weeks of training and was too far behind in healing to be ready for worlds,” Elmore told CBC Sports, adding she has had strong workouts recently. “I am optimistic it is healed.”
When she isn’t cheering the Canadian athletes at home with her coach/husband Graham Hood, who raced the 1,500 metres at three world championships, Elmore will be preparing for the Dec. 7 Valencia Marathon in Spain.
She is also hopeful of running a tune up race in October.
Elmore competed in Valencia last Dec. 1 and was 14th in two hours 26 minutes five seconds less than four months after placing 34th in the Olympic women’s marathon in Paris.
At the 2021 Olympics, Elmore overcame the scorching heat in Sapporo, Japan to finish ninth in 2:30:59, the best Olympic marathon finish by a Canadian woman in a non-boycott Games.
Natasha Wodak will be the lone Canadian in the women’s marathon at worlds on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. ET. The national record holder is representing Canada in the marathon for a second time at the world championships after placing 15th (2:30:09) two years ago in Budapest, Hungary.
For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.
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