21 May 2025
Aspire Academy-trained Oumar Doudai Abakar continued his excellent season with a new national record in the 110m hurdles at the Doha Diamond League event.
The 20-year-old, coached by Aspire Academy’s Lee Christopher, ran 13.46 seconds to finish sixth overall in a race won by Olympic bronze medallist Rasheed Broadbell of Jamaica.
It was an improvement of 0.32 seconds on his previous personal best, and the result is another step towards his goal of qualifying for September’s World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan.
With only 40 spots available for the World Championships, he will need to either improve his personal best to 13.27 seconds or continue accumulating points on the World Athletics list in races to qualify through that route.
He has until August 24 to gain enough points to secure a place on the start line in Tokyo. His new national record currently ranks him 45th globally in 2025.
His next opportunity to earn crucial points will be at the Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi, South Korea, which take place from May 27 to May 31.
As part of his final preparations, he has already travelled to South Korea for a training camp, continuing the collaboration between Aspire Academy and the Qatar Athletics Federation.
His coach, Lee Christopher, is pleased with Oumar Abakar’s transition from indoor to outdoor races, but notes, as always, that there is room for further improvement.
“He's now had five outdoor races, and he's taken a really good step in terms of transitioning from indoor to outdoor and applying some of the lessons he's learnt,” the coach explained.
“His next challenge is to put together a whole race without mistakes. In some races he has started well, in others he has finished the race strongly, now we need to do both in the same race.”
“That’s the biggest challenge in hurdling, and he's been working really hard on that, and I think that in the next couple of races we'll start to see something even better.”
“Once the Asian Athletics Championships are over, we are working hard to find him some races in Europe to compete in, so he can earn more of those vital points needed to qualify for the World Championships.”
The new mark betters the time of 13.62 seconds set in 2007 by Mohamed Essa Al Thawadi, Head of Team Coordinators at Aspire Academy.
Oumar Doudai Abakar now holds the Qatar national records for the 60m indoor hurdles and the 110m outdoor event.
There was disappointment for the home crowd in Doha as Aspire Academy graduate and former Olympic champion Mutaz Barshim was unable to compete in the high jump as planned.
It was also a difficult evening for another Aspire Academy graduate, Moaaz Ibrahim, as he struggled in the discus and eventually finished last in an event won by Olympic bronze medallist Matthew Denny of Australia.
Several Aspire Academy student-athletes and other trainees also had valuable experiences, participating in track events ahead of the main competition.