Spanish Runner Mohamed Katir Crowned Top Athlete in National History

Born on February 17, 1998 in Ksar-el-Kebir, Morocco, Mo Katir arrived with his family in Mula (Murcia) at the age of 5. After practicing football for a while, he discovered his true passion, athletics, thanks to his first coach, Cristóbal Carlos, and won several medals as a cadet and junior. In 2016, he won the junior national cross-country championships, but the gold medal was awarded to Miguel González (5th), because he did not yet have Spanish nationality, recalls Sport.es.

The athlete of Moroccan origin had nevertheless applied for Spanish nationality in 2015. But it was not until October 2019 that he officially became Spanish. "I’m from Mula. They always call me the ’Moroccan athlete’, but I’m not Moroccan. I’m Spanish," he said at the European Indoor Championships in the 3000m in Torun, his first competition as a Spaniard, where he finished fourth. He had won the Spanish Championships two years earlier, but had not received the gold medal because he did not have nationality.

Since then, Mohamed Katir has been breaking records. In 2021, he made history in Spanish athletics by breaking the 5,000m record of Alemayehu Bezabeh with a time of 12:50.79 on June 10 in Florence, then that of Fermin Cacho in the 1500m with a time of 3:28.76 in Monte-Carlo on July 9, and that of Isaac Viciosa in the 3,000m with a time of 7:27.64 on July 13 in Gathesead. In 2022, Mo Katir won silver in the 5000m at the European Championships in Munich, and bronze in the 1500m at the World Championships in Eugene.

"One of my big goals for the summer is to beat Ingebrigtsen in August in Budapest. It’s very difficult, but I’ll train even harder to achieve it," said Katir, who is not participating in the Diamond League taking place this week, with the Athletissima in Lausanne on Friday in Switzerland and the Bauhaus Galan in Stockholm on Sunday in Sweden.