NYRR Media Center

Bashir Abdi, a Somali-born Belgian, is a two-time Olympic and one-time World Athletics Championships medalist and the European record-holder in the marathon; he will be making his TCS New York City Marathon debut.

Abdi was born in El Afweyn, Somaliland, and when he was eight, he moved to Djibouti and then Ethiopia before ultimately settling in Belgium where he began his career as a competitive runner as a teenager.

In 2018, he won silver in the 10,000 meters at the European Championships, followed by bronze medals in the marathon at the Tokyo Olympics and World Athletics Championships. He also finished second at the 2020 Tokyo Marathon and third at the 2022 London Marathon. This summer, he returned from a hip stress fracture to win silver in the Paris Olympic marathon in 2:06:47, only 21 seconds behind winner Tamirat Tola.

Abdi and his wife, Nimo, have a daughter, Kadra, and a son, Ibrahim. He is also a co-founder and vice chairman of the nonprofit Sportaround, which organizes after-school sports activities for children in Belgium