Moad Zahafi (born 9 May 1998) is a Moroccan runner who specializes in the 800 metres.
He represented Morocco at the 2019 Summer Universiade in Naples, Italy and he won the silver medal in the men's 800 metres event. [1] [2] He also competed at the 2019 African Games and the 2019 World Championships without reaching the final.
Zahafi competes at the collegiate level for Texas Tech. On 16 April 2022, he ran a world-leading time of 1:43.69 at the Tom Jones Memorial in Gainesville, Florida, recording the third-fastest time in NCAA history. [3]
The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightly shorter race, called the stadion and run on a straight track, was the first recorded event at the ancient Olympic Games. The 200 m places more emphasis on speed endurance than shorter sprint distances as athletes predominantly rely on anaerobic energy system during the 200 m sprint. Similarly to other sprint distances, the 200 m begins from the starting blocks. When the sprinters adopt the 'set' position in the blocks they are able to adopt a more efficient starting posture and isometrically preload their muscles. This enables them to stride forwards more powerfully when the race begins and start faster.
William Wuycke is a former Venezuelan 800m runner, who set a personal best of 1:43.54 minutes at a 1986 meeting in Rieti. This result made Wuycke the third-fastest South American 800m runner of all time. He finished fourth in the 800 metres at the 1987 Pan American Games. He carried the flag for his native country at the opening ceremony at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California.
Faith Chepngetich Kipyegon is a Kenyan middle- and long-distance runner. Kipyegon is the current world record holder for the 1,500 metres and mile, both set in 2023, and the former world record holder for the 5,000 metres. Kipyegon won a gold medal each at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the 1,500 m. She also won a gold medal in the 1,500 m at the 2017, 2022 and 2023 World Athletics Championships and in the 5,000 m at the 2023 World Athletics Championships.
Akani Simbine is a South African sprinter specialising in the 100 metres event. He was fifth at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the men's 100 metres and was the 100 metres African record holder with a time of 9.84 seconds set in July 2021 until broken by Ferdinand Omanyala in September 2021.
Wayde van Niekerk is a South African track and field sprinter who competes in the 200 and 400 metres. In the 400 metres, he is the current world and Olympic record holder, having set the record in the Olympic finals.
Ejowvokoghene Divine Oduduru is a Nigerian sprinter specializing in the 100-meter and 200-meter dash. He holds personal bests of 9.86 seconds for the 100 m and 19.73 seconds for the 200 m. The latter is a Nigerian national record.
Colleen Quigley is an American middle-distance runner, steeplechase specialist and an Olympian from St. Louis, Missouri. She is the current World Record holder in the 4x1500 meters relay. Competing in the 3000 meters steeplechase, she finished 8th at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio and 12th at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics in Beijing. She was the 2019 US National Indoor Champion in the one-mile event running 4:29.47 to capture the title and was the 2015 NCAA Champion in the 3000 meters steeplechase. In 2023, Quigley announced that she would start competing in triathlon events, but that she still plans to race track and field through 2024.
Raevyn Rogers is an American middle-distance athlete. She won a bronze medal in the 800 meters at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, becoming the fourth fastest woman in U.S. history in the event. At the 2019 World Championships, Rogers came from seventh with 100m remaining in the race to place silver over USA teammate Ajeé Wilson in bronze. She earned a world indoor title as a member of national 4x400 m relay squad that took gold at the 2018 World Indoor Championships.
Christian Coleman is an American professional track and field sprinter who competes in the 100 meters and 200 meters. The 2019 world champion in the 100 meters, he also won gold as part of men's 4 × 100-meter relay. He holds personal bests of 9.76 seconds for the 100 m, which made him the 6th fastest all-time in the history of 100 metres event, and 19.85 for the 200 m. Coleman is the world indoor record holder for the 60 meters with 6.34 seconds. He was the Diamond League champion in 2018 & 2023 and the world number one ranked runner in the men's 100 m for the 2017, 2018 and 2019 seasons.
Josh Kerr is a Scottish middle-distance runner who competes primarily in the 1500 metres. A double World Champion, he won a gold medal in the event at the 2023 World Championships, a bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics, and a gold medal at the 2015 European Junior Championships. Indoors he is the 2024 World Indoor champion in the 3000 metres. He holds the world record time in the indoor 2 mile and the European record in the indoor mile.
Mireille Sankatsing is a female former track and field athlete from Suriname, who competed in the 400, 800 and 1500 metres. She represented her country in the 800 metres at the 1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics, the 1987 Pan American Games, the 1987 World Championships in Athletics and the 1988 World Junior Championships in Athletics. She competed in the 1500 metres at the 1986 World Junior Championships as well. Sankatsing also competed in the 400 metres at the 1993 Summer Universiade, finishing sixth in the final with a time of 54.87 seconds.
Kahmari Montgomery is an American track and field sprinter specializing in the 400 m for Nike. He was the men's 400 m champion at the USA Championships in 2018, and at the NCAA Division I Championships in 2019. He represented the United States in the 4 × 400 m relay at the World U20 Championships in 2016 and at the inaugural Athletics World Cup in 2018, earning gold medals in both competitions.
The women's 400 metres event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place from 3 to 6 August 2021 at the Japan National Stadium. 45 athletes from 34 nations competed. Shaunae Miller-Uibo won the gold medal in a personal best of 48.36 secs, a time which ranks her sixth on the world all-time list. In successfully defending her title, Miller-Uibo joined Marie-Jose Perec as the only women to win two Olympic 400 metres titles.
The women's 800 metres event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place from 30 July to 3 August 2021 at the Japan National Stadium. 46 athletes from 29 nations competed. 19-year-old Athing Mu of the United States won the gold medal. The silver medal went to Keely Hodgkinson of Great Britain, and the bronze medal went to Mu's American teammate Raevyn Rogers.
Catriona Bisset is an Australian middle-distance runner who specialises in the 800 metres. She holds the Oceanian record for both indoors and outdoors in the event, and won the gold medal at the 2019 Universiade.
Bryce Hoppel is an American middle-distance runner who specializes in the 800 metres. He is the reigning 800 m world indoor champion having won gold at the 2024 World Indoor Championships in Glasgow. He also is a 6-time U.S. champion and two-time NCAA champion over the distance.
Joseph Paul Amoah is a Ghanaian sprinter specializing in the 100 metres and the 200 metres. He competed at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in the 100 metres and 4 × 100 metres relay, and at the 2019 African Games, he won a gold medal in the 4 × 100 metres relay. He was also a 100 metres finalist at the 2019 African Games, finishing fourth.
John Eamon Gay is a Canadian track and field Olympic Finalist who specializes in the 3000 metres steeplechase.
Rachel Smith is an American middle- and long-distance runner. She competed collegiately for Georgetown University. Smith represented the United States at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha and at the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo.
Musulman Dzholomanov is a Kyrgyzstani middle-distance runner. In 2019, he competed in the men's 1500 metres at the 2019 World Athletics Championships held in Doha, Qatar. He finished in 38th place in the heats.