Abdalelah Haroun, Qatar’s world 400m bronze medallist dies in a car crash

Abdalelah Haroun, a Qatari sprinter who won bronze in the 400 meters event at the 2017 World Championships, died in a car accident on Saturday, according to the world governing body of athletics, citing media reports.

He was 24 years old at the time. Though he was undergoing rehabilitation following an injury, the former world junior champion was expecting to qualify for this year’s Tokyo Olympics.

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Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, President of the Qatar Olympic Committee, announced in a tweet that a “talented Qatari runner” had died in a terrible accident, but did not provide any specifics.

Haroun was born in Sudan and was granted Qatari citizenship in 2015, the same year he made his debut by winning the Asian 400m title at the age of 18 and setting an Asian Under-20 record of 44.27.

The following year, he won the Asian indoor title and finished second, and grabbed a silver medal at the World Indoor Championships in Portland, before going on to compete in the Rio Olympic Games.

In 2017, Haroun became the first Asian to win a global 400m medal, finishing third behind South Africa’s Wayde van Niekerk and the Bahamas’ Steven Gardiner in London. With the fastest performance of 44.07 recorded in 2018, he holds the Qatari national record.