Reigning world champion and Olympic champion Soufiane El Bakkali is bringing home Morocco’s first gold medal in the 3000m steeplechase with a time of 8:06.05 on Wednesday evening.
At the start of the race, the Moroccan athlete paced himself. With six laps left in the race, El Bakkali advanced steadily asking his compatriot Mohamed Tindouft to go ahead and speed up the race.
Though overtaken by a pack of athletes, notably American Kenneth Rooks, Soufiane El Bakkali managed, thanks to a breakneck finish, to advance and cross the finish line first.
The Moroccan athlete won his first Olympic medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, finishing in 8:08.90.
His victory ended a 37-year streak of Kenyan dominance in the event, making El Bakkali the first non-Kenyan-born athlete to win Olympic gold in the steeplechase since 1980.