Qatari sprinter Abdalelah Haroun, who won the 400m bronze in 2017 in World Championships, passed away on Saturday at the age of 24.
Qatar Olympic Committee on Saturday shared the news on Twitter. "Team #Qatar sprinter and world 400m bronze medalist Abdalelah Haroun died today," Team Qatar tweeted.
According to World Athletics, Haroun made his big breakthrough in 2015 when he won the Asian 400m title at the age of 18 and set an Asian U20 record of 44.27.
The following year he won the Asian indoor title before claiming his first global medal at the World Indoor Championships in Portland, where he secured silver.
He went to the World U20 Championships in Bydgoszcz as favourite for gold, which he achieved in a time of 44.81, and made his Olympic debut in Rio the following month, reaching the semifinals. He was also the national record-holder with his best of 44.07 run in 2018.
The eldest of five siblings, Haroun was born in Sudan, where he first enjoyed boxing and football. His sprinting potential was spotted by a teacher and aged 16, in his first-ever 400m race, he ran 49 seconds.
( With inputs from ANI )
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