At the Brussels Diamond League 2020, Mo Farah broke a new World Record for the one-hour event. But his training partner, Bashir Abdi, followed just steps behind him.
Along with this 2nd place win, Abdi broke a new world best in this race. He ran 20,000m of the race in record time: 56:20.02. Though Farah pulled away from him in the end, Abdi still made history.
“Sport is a way of surviving, and sport saved me, honestly,” says the up-and-coming athlete, who has managed to break multiple personal, national, and even world records and has his eye on even more success.
2020: A roaring success for Bashir Abdi
Abdi has made history thrice, consecutively beating his own marathon run times. He recently became the second European with a 2 hour, 4 min, and 49 second time for the grueling 26-mile race.
The city of Tokyo was expected to host about 38,000 runners, but ended up allowing 200 participants in light of the pandemic. Abdi also set a Belgian record of 13.2 miles in just an hour at the Brussels Diamond League. He stayed close to winner and training partner Mo Farah for a large portion of the time.
Abdi has his eye on beating some more records in 2021. The European marathon record stands at a time only 33 seconds faster than his, and Abdi’s rapid improvement as a runner shows much promise.
“In 2021 I would like to become the first Belgian to run under an hour in the half marathon…” he says, “Maybe I will run the New York City Marathon [scheduled for 1 November] because of the Marathon Major general classification, but let us first tackle the Olympics.”
Mo Farah inspired Bashir Abdi to start running
Born in Mogadishu, Somalia, Abdi immigrated to Belgium at the age of 13. Obsessed with soccer as a kid, he fell in love with running a little later on.
“As a kid I could not even understand why people would run in circles. Chasing a football made sense but skinny people running in circles did not at all,” Abdi recalls. “That was until I started running at the age of 18 and I have never regretted that decision”.
In part, Abdi’s friend and now-mentor inspired him to launch a serious running career.
He and Farah met in 2008 at a race when Abdi first started running. They trained together for the first time in 2014 in Kenya, and have trained together ever since. “It’s a pleasure for me to train with the best in the world,” says Abdi.
Bashir Abdi seeks Olympic victory for Belgium
Abdi is preparing for the upcoming Olympics, with special conditioning given the climate difference between Japan and Belgium.
“Together with the Belgian Olympic Team we will prepare towards Sapporo as much as possible,” he says. “Workouts in a heat chamber will be part of that preparation, combined with the usual altitude camp in Sululta.”
In an interview with the Olympic Channel, Abdi says that to him, the best part of running is that “it is individual.”
He also speaks about his identity as a Somalian-Belgian, and that sport is a great equalizer for all. “One of my main targets in my sports career is to achieve a medal for my country, my new country,” he says. “To thank them for giving me a new life and a new opportunity.”
Learn more about Abdi’s Olympic career here, and read more about his mentor Mo Farah here.
