The Qatari duo Abderrahman Samba and Bassim Mohammed Hamida will take part in the 400m hurdles at the elite World Athletics championship “Budapest 2026”, held in the Hungarian capital from 11 to 13 September.
The Qatar Athletics Federation’s account on the platform “X” announced on Thursday that Samba and Bassim Mohammed will represent the Qatari national team in the 400m hurdles, wishing the pair success in the global challenge.
Samba enters the championship on the back of a strong run of performances this season, most recently at the Brussels meeting on 5 September, where he finished sixth in the 400m hurdles with a time of 48.24 seconds.
The Qatari runner also competed at the Zurich Diamond League meeting on 27 August, achieving his best time of the season by finishing the race in 47.77 seconds to take fifth place.
Samba had earlier stood on the podium at the London Diamond League meeting in July, finishing third in 48.10 seconds, and he still holds the Asian record for the event at 46.98 seconds, set in Paris in 2018.
Meanwhile, Bassim Mohammed Hamida enters the Budapest competition after achieving one of his best results this season, winning first place at the Bellinzona meeting in Switzerland on 30 August, setting a new personal best of 47.56 seconds.
This time places Bassim among the leading Asian runners in the history of the 400m hurdles, having previously won the Banska Bystrica meeting in Slovakia last July with a time of 48.10 seconds.
Samba and Bassim have previously competed on the Hungarian capital’s track at the Gyulai Istvan meeting in July, where Samba finished sixth in 48.31 seconds, while Bassim came seventh with a time of 48.43 seconds.
The Qatari duo face stiff competition in Budapest against some of the world’s leading 400m hurdles stars, including Brazil’s Alison dos Santos, American Rai Benjamin, and Norway’s Karsten Warholm.
The semi-finals of the race will be held next Saturday, with the final set to take place on Sunday evening, closing out the championship that brings together an elite group of world and Olympic champions and the season’s top performers.
