Mohamed "Mo" Katir El Haouzi (born 17 February 1998) is a Spanish middle- and

long-distance runner Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely Aerobic exercise, aerobic in nature and requires endurance, stamina as well as mental strength. Within e ...

. He won the bronze medal in the

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletic ...

at the

2022 World Athletics Championships The 2022 World Athletics Championships was the eighteenth edition of the World Athletics Championships. It was held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, United States, from July 15–24, 2022, with the country hosting that competition for the f ...

. Katir took silver in the

5000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a stan ...

at the 2022 European Championships. He is the European indoor record holder for the

3000 metres The 3000 metres or 3000-metre run is a track running event, also commonly known as the "3K" or "3K run", where 7.5 laps are run around an outdoor 400 m track, or 15 laps around a 200 m indoor track. It is debated whether the 3000m shoul ...

. Katir holds also three Spanish records (1500 m, 3000 m, 5000 m) and is a two-time national champion.

Biography

Born in

Ksar el-Kebir El-Ksar el Kebir (Arabic: القصر الكبير; ber, ⵍⵇⵚⵔ ⵍⴽⴱⵉⵔ, lqṣr lkbir) is a city in northwestern Morocco, about 160 km north of Rabat, 32 km east of Larache and 110 km south of Tangier. It recorded a ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

, Mohamed Katir was raised in Mula,

Murcia Murcia (, , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the seventh largest city in the country. It has a population of 460,349 inhabitants in 2021 (about one ...

, Spain since he was 5 years old. While Katir had previously run as Spaniard in youth competitions and won a Spanish national cross championship, he actually acquired the

Spanish citizenship Spanish nationality law refers to all the laws of Spain concerning nationality. Article 11 of the First Title of the Spanish Constitution refers to Spanish nationality and establishes that a separate law is to regulate how it is acquired and los ...

in October 2019, after a 4-year long process. In May 2021, Katir won his first

Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fourteen of the best invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics (formerly known as the IAAF) one-day mee ...

event, securing victory in the

at the Grand Prix Gateshead in United Kingdom. In June and July, he broke three long-standing Spanish national records in just a 33-day span at the Diamond League meetings. First on 10 June, he ran a new 5000 m record of 12:50.79 at the

Golden Gala Golden Gala is an annual track and field event normally held at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, Italy. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now part of the Diamond League. Following the 2013 death of Italian sprinting legend Pie ...

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

, Italy. Less than a month later, at the

Herculis The Herculis is an annual track and field meet at Stade Louis II in Fontvieille, Monaco. Previously one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix events, it is now part of the Diamond League. World records Over the course of its history, five world reco ...

meet in

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

, he set Spanish record in the

, finishing second behind only 2019 world champion Timothy Cheruiyot who set a personal best in the race. Katir's 3:28.76 ranked him as the 10th fastest of all time, just eight hundreds of a second off the European record. Four days after that, he won the

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...

, United Kingdom with a time of 7:27.64, breaking

Haile Gebrselassie Haile Gebrselassie ( am, ኀይሌ ገብረ ሥላሴ, ''haylē gebre silassē''; born 18 April 1973) is an Ethiopian retired long-distance track, road running athlete, and businessman. He won two Olympic gold medals and four World Champions ...

meet record in the process. His time ranked him as 15th of all time at that distance. At the end of the year, Katir won the

San Silvestre Vallecana The San Silvestre Vallecana is an annual 10 km road race held on 31 December in Madrid, Spain since 1964. It has two editions: a fun run for amateur athletes and an elite race for professional athletes. In 2012, the race achieved its histo ...

10 kilometres road race in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, setting yet another national best mark and becoming the first domestic winner of this race since 2003. On 15 February 2023, Katir obliterated European indoor 3000 m record at the

Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais The Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais (formerly Meeting Pas de Calais) also called Meeting International de Liévin (''International Meeting of Liévin'') is an annual indoor track and field competition which takes place in February in Liévin ...

Liévin Liévin (; pcd, Lévin; ) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. The inhabitants are called ''Liévinois''. Overview The town of Liévin is an old mining area of Pas-de-Calais. Near Lens, this town is of modest size but ...

(in a race where

Lamecha Girma Lamecha Girma (born 26 November 2000) is an Ethiopian athlete who specialises in the 3000 metres steeplechase. He is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic silver medallist in the event and won silver medals at the 2019 and 2022 World Athletics Championships. L ...

set a world record) with a time of 7:24.68, slicing more than six seconds off the previous mark held by

Adel Mechaal Adel Mechaal (born 5 December 1990) is a Morocco-born Spanish middle- and long-distance runner. In the 1500 metres, he placed fourth at the 2017 World Championships, and fifth at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Over the 3000 and 5000 metres, Mechaal ...

since 2022. His time even surpassed the European outdoor 3000 m record of 7:26.62 and was inside the previous world indoor record of 7:24.90 set by

Daniel Komen Daniel Kipngetich Komen (born 17 May 1976) Komen is rumoured to be three years older than officially recognised. is a Kenyan middle- and long-distance runner. Remembered for his rivalry with Haile Gebrselassie, Komen's most notable achievement ...

in 1998.

Achievements

International competitions

Circuit wins, and National titles

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

(5000 m): Gateshead Grand Prix (), Gateshead British Grand Prix ( ) *

Spanish Athletics Championships The Spanish Athletics Championships ( es, Campeonato de España de atletismo) is an annual outdoor track and field competition organised by the Royal Spanish Athletics Federation (RFEA), which serves as the Spanish national championship for the spo ...

: 2022 * Spanish Indoor Athletics Championships **

: 2019

Personal bests

800 metres The 800 metres, or meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since the ...

– 1:51.84 (

2019) *

– 3:28.76 (

2021) ** 1500 metres indoor – 3:34.32 (

2023) *

– 7:27.64 (

2021) ** 3000 metres indoor – 7:24.68 (

2023) European record *

– 12:50.79 (

2021) ;Road * 5 kilometres – 13:20 (

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...

2022) *

10 kilometres 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit (measurement), unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment ...

– 27:19 (

2022)

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Katir, Mohamed 1998 births Living people Moroccan emigrants to Spain Naturalised citizens of Spain Spanish male middle-distance runners Spanish male long-distance runners Spanish sportspeople of Moroccan descent Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Spain European Athletics Championships medalists 21st-century Spanish people