Lengthy-distance runner Mahamed Mahamed stated it was an “wonderful feeling” to be chosen for the Olympics after his fourth-placed end within the London Marathon.
The 26-year-old completed with a time of two hours seven minutes 5 seconds, the third-fastest marathon time ever by a British runner.
“I have been working so exhausting for the final 12 years to grow to be an Olympian,” Southampton-based Mahamed instructed BBC South Right now.
“It is the dedication and the time that I’ve given to the game. It is now paid off.”
Mahamed clocked a brand new private greatest to complete below the Olympic qualifying time of two:08:10 to guide his place on the Paris Video games.
Crew GB team-mate Emile Cairess completed third to make it the primary time since 1990 that Nice Britain had two males end inside the highest 5 on the London Marathon.
Mahamed, Cairess and Philip Sesemann will now make up the British males’s marathon group on the Olympics.
Mahamed was born in Jarso, Ethiopia and emigrated to Southampton together with his household in 2011 when he was 14 years previous.
After his look within the London Marathon, he returned to Cantell Secondary Faculty in Southampton the place he thanked those that first noticed his expertise.
“The thrill about what he achieved is phenomenal,” stated instructor Siobhan Dodds.
“We’d typically take him to meets on Saturdays and as he progressed we took him to locations like Donington and Bolton, simply to assist him.”
Mahamed, who trains at Southampton Athletics Membership, solely switched to working marathons 14 months in the past however this summer season he’ll compete in opposition to the best athletes from throughout the globe.
The boys’s marathon is scheduled to happen on 10 August with the ladies’s occasion the next day.