Ahmad Hassan Abdullah

Ahmad Hassan Abdullah (Arabic: عبد الله أحمد حسن, born Albert Chepkurui on July 29, 1981[1] in Kaptarakwa, Kenya) is a long-distance and cross country runner, now representing Qatar after his switch from Kenya in 2003. Other runners who have made the same switch include Saif Saeed Shaheen.

Ahmad Hassan Abdullah
Medal record
Men's athletics
Representing  Qatar
World Cross Country Championships
Bronze medal – third place2005 St EtienneLong race
World Half Marathon Championships
Bronze medal – third place2004 New DelhiHalf marathon
Bronze medal – third place2008 Rio de JaneiroHalf marathon
Asian Championships
Gold medal – first place2003 Manila10,000 m
Gold medal – first place2007 Amman10,000 m
Silver medal – second place2007 Amman5000 m
Bronze medal – third place2009 Guangzhou10,000 m

Abdullah has won bronze medals at the 2005 IAAF World Cross Country Championships and the 2004 and 2008 editions of the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships. He represented Qatar over 10,000 metres at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and three times at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics. He is a two-time Asian champion in the 10,000 m (2003 and 2007) and holds the Asian record with his personal best time of 26:38.76 minutes.

Career

Abdullah has competed numerous times at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships. He made his first appearance as a junior athlete at the 1999 race, finishing in fifth place. In the senior section, he was sixth in the 2001 short race and 2002 long race, before missing 2003 amid his switch to represent Qatar. He returned in 2004 to take fourth in the short race. In 2005 he race in both races and was the long race bronze medallist and eighth in the short race. He performed less well after that, with finishes ranging from eighth to 18th in the period from 2006 to 2010.[2]

He has enjoyed success at the Asian Cross Country Championships, winning the individual and team gold medals at the 2007 and 2009 competitions.[3] He won both the individual and team titles at the 2008 edition of the World Military Cross Country Championships.[4] He has competed on the Spanish cross country circuit and won the Cross Zornotza in 2005.

On the track Abdullah has typically competed in the 10,000 m. He holds the Asian and Qatari records for the distance with his personal best of 26:38.76 minutes, set at the Memorial Van Damme meeting in 2003. He was the bronze medallist in the event at the 2001 Goodwill Games,[5] In his first outings as a Qatari athlete he came fourth in the 10,000 m at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics, before taking the regional title in the event at the 2003 Asian Athletics Championships. At the 2007 Asian Athletics Championships, he won a second Asian title and also a silver medal over 5000 metres behind his compatriot Felix Kibore.[6] He ran at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics, but did not manage to finish. On his Olympic debut at the 2008 Beijing Olympics he came eighth in the 10,000 m and was the only runner in the top ten to represent a non-African nation. He was eleventh at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics, then was only a bronze medallist at the 2009 Asian Athletics Championships, as he was beaten by two other former Kenyans, Nicholas Kemboi and Hasan Mahboob.[2]

At the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships he has competed three times and reached the podium twice. He was third in 2004, 24th in 2007 and took a second bronze medal at the 2008 race.[2] On the road circuit, he was the 2003 winner of the Bellin Run.[7]

After a break from international competition lasting from late 2010 through 2011,[2] Abdullah made his marathon debut in 2012 at the Hamburg Marathon and finished the race in a time of 2:08:36 hours, coming fifth overall.[8]

International competitions
YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventNotes
Representing  Kenya
2001 World Cross Country Championships Ostend, Belgium 6th Short race
2002 World Cross Country Championships Dublin, Ireland 6th Long race
1st Team competition
Representing  Qatar
2003 World Championships Paris, France 4th 10,000 m 27:18.28
World Athletics Final Monte Carlo, Monaco 10th 5000 m
2004 World Cross Country Championships Brussels, Belgium 4th Short race
2nd Team competition
World Half Marathon Championships New Delhi, India 3rd Half marathon
World Athletics Final Monte Carlo, Monaco 6th 5000 m
2005 World Cross Country Championships Saint-Étienne, France 3rd Long race
3rd Team competition
8th Short race
3rd Team competition
2006 World Cross Country Championships Fukuoka, Japan 14th Long race
6th Team competition
2007 Asian Championships Amman, Jordan 2nd 5000 m 14:08.66
1st 10,000 m 29:45.95
Pan Arab Games Cairo, Egypt 6th 5000 m 13:46.45
5th 10,000 m 29:35.90

Personal bests

See also

References
  1. "Ahmad Hassan Abdullah", Athlete Profile at iaaf.org. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
  2. Abdullah Ahmad Hassan. IAAF. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  3. Hubbeling, Heinrich; Krishnan, Ram Murali (9 March 2009). "Asian Crosscountry Championships". Association of Road Racing Statisticians. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
  4. Previous CISM Results. CISM. Retrieved on 19 December 2010.
  5. Goodwill Games results. GBR Athletics. Retrieved 30 July 2009.
  6. Asian Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  7. "Bellin Run 2010 - Past Race Results and Record Holders". Bellinrun.com. 12 June 2010. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
  8. Butcher, Pat (29 April 2012). "Dawit again sub-2:06 as course records tumble in Hamburg". IAAF. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
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