20 Mar 2025
Aspire Academy-trained athlete Oumar Abakar will represent Qatar at the World Indoor Athletics Championships in Nanjing, China, which begin on 21 March.
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 attended in late January as he transitioned 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, during which he set the sixth-fastest time of 2024 for the 110-meter 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.
Moving up to the senior events means competing against more experienced athletes and racing over higher hurdles—the under-20 hurdles are 99cm, while the senior events 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, 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."
Oumar Abakar's coach, Lee Christopher, who works closely with the Qatar Athletics Federation, will accompany him to China. Christopher is confident that the 20-year-old has all the tools to make a successful transition to the senior level.
"He is coping well with the step up to the senior men's event. Going on his first European indoor tour and racing indoors properly was fantastic. He is really strong at the end of the 110-metre hurdles race, so running 60 meters indoors will help him improve on his start and prepare him to be able to run outdoors as well. It was also important for him to experience the atmosphere of running in front of a crowd. In Poland, he raced and beat a Polish athlete who was a semi-finalist at the World Indoor Championships last year. This year, he has come against Olympians from Paris last year and even finished ahead of some. So, he has really stepped up a level in terms of competition and atmosphere."
"The change in the height of the barriers is an interesting step up for anyone, but the reality is he is now running similar times to the ones he was over the smaller hurdles. He's worked really hard to make that step and worked hard on his technique to be able to handle it."
"Not only has he stepped up physically, but his psychological preparation has really exceeded our expectations. He was so composed. Ultimately, the bigger goal is the Tokyo Outdoor World Championships in September. The World Indoor Championships will be a stepping stone towards that and to gaining experience at senior world championships. He's still growing, still learning and progressing well."