El-Bakali edged out world record holder Lamesha Girma of Ethiopia to win in a time of eight minutes, 3.53 seconds.
Girma (22 years old), who scored seven minutes and 52.11 seconds at the Paris Diamond League meeting on June 9 to break the world record, won the silver medal with a time of eight minutes and 05.44 seconds.
Kenya’s Abraham Kibiot won the bronze.
Baqali reveals the secret of winning
In his interview with the Moroccan “Al-Riyadiah” channel, Sufyan Al-Bakali mentioned:
- I’m proud to get another gold, after winning the World Championships last year.
- My preparation was great for this championship, but today’s race had a strong group like Lamicha.
- I came ready, willing and believing in winning.
- These days have been difficult for me, and today, five or four hours before the start of the race, I experienced a lot of mental pressure, and I felt distracted, but thank God I was going back and telling myself how best I was and my ability to overtake my very strong competitor and become the championship champion.
- I dealt with the race in a rational manner, and respected my competitor, whom I know well since 2019. He achieved many difficult numbers, I do not deny his strength, but numbers are one thing and winning medals is another. Thank God, I gained the necessary experience that enabled me to defeat my competitors and win the gold medal.
- When you have people around you who deal professionally, professionally and intelligently, you can achieve achievements.
- This medal will give me more motivation for the Paris Olympics. I want to win there too.
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