Olympic Champion Soufian El-Bakali Retains World Title
Olympic champion Soufian El-Bakali retained his world title and presented Morocco with a gold medal in the 3000m hurdles at the World Championships in Athletics held in the Hungarian capital Budapest.
Victory for El-Bakali
Al-Bakali led the race with a time of 8:03:54 ahead of the fiercest rivals led by Ethiopian Lamesha Girma, world record holder.
Sufian El Bakkali – world champion ????
Congratulations to the Moroccan people with this lion ???????????????? pic.twitter.com/JTzCOOC77p– Hisham El KhilaniⓂ️ (@ssQfTkDi7UkXOxI) August 22, 2023
Silver and Bronze
Girma won the silver medal (8:05.44 e) while Kenyan Abraham Kibut won bronze in third place (8:11.98 e).
unstoppable
Sufian El Bakkali of ???????? again leads the 3000m hurdles by winning his second #World champions in athletics gold medal ????
He has not lost in a major steeplechase since September 2021 ???? pic.twitter.com/P2BF1DzOsU
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) August 22, 2023
Continued Dominance
This is the second consecutive world title for the grocer after last year’s Eugene, after he also won gold at the Tokyo Olympics in the summer of 2021.
Al-Bakali has monopolized the 3m steeplechase since September 2021, ending the dominance of Kenyan and Ethiopian runners in the race.