“I lived away from home for a long time to achieve this record, which I had in mind since 2021”
Moha Katir (24 years old) is on everyone’s lips. The middle-distance runner from Muleño is revolutionizing Spanish athletics and has become the great benchmark for European middle-distance runners, as he made clear on Wednesday at the Meetings Hautes-de-France Pas-de-Calais in Liévin, a test of the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold, on a day when he broke the European record in the 3,000 meters and achieved the second best world record in history on the indoor track. Moha stopped the clock in 7:24.68, lowering the previous European record, 7:30.82, set by Adel Mechaal in 2022 at Staten Island by 6.14 seconds. Since East German Siegfried Herrmann dropped from 8:09.4 to 7:58.7 in 1959, the continental 3,000-meter indoor record has not improved by so many seconds.
“I was preparing for this race for five months. I have been living away from home for a long time to reach this record, which I had in mind since 2021,” Katir told European Athletics at the Arena Stade Couvert in Liévin, adding: “I am very happy to break it, but also to do it here in Europe. The previous record was in the United States and for me the European record must be set in Europe.
The European record holder arrived this Thursday in Mula where he will rest for a few days before returning to Sierra Nevada to prepare for the World Indoor Tour Gold Madrid test on Wednesday 22. This weekend he will not be present at the absolute Spanish Indoor Championships that it will be held at the Gallur Sports Center in Madrid.
«After resting a bit from the noise of the race in France, he returned to Mula, I want to breathe the air of Muleño again with my family. Even if it’s only for a short time, being with my people energizes me.”
More relaxed and studying Wednesday’s race well, Katir says: “I thought I could pass Girma in the last four hundred metres. I tried, but the meters of distance he took from me was insurmountable to beat him.
As for next Wednesday’s challenge in Madrid, Katir doesn’t know how far he will run. «I doubt whether I will run the 1,500 meters or the 3,000. Besides, it doesn’t hurt to try myself on the 5,000 meters. We’ll see,” the Muleño middle-distance runner told LA VERDAD on Thursday. He also added that he thought he was dreaming when he saw the grade he got in the Liévin test: “I couldn’t believe it, I was on a cloud I started hugging all my teammates, I had a weird feeling.
Katir’s exhibition on Wednesday took the lead on the European indoor record and also surpassed the continental outdoor record set by Belgian Mourhit with 7:26.62. With his 7:24.68, Katir even broke the previous indoor world record.
Source: La Verdad
I am Shawn Partain, a journalist and content creator working for the Today Times Live. I specialize in sports journalism, writing articles that cover major sporting events and news stories. With a passion for storytelling and an eye for detail, I strive to be accurate and insightful in my work.
