Qatari sprinter Abdalelah Haroun, who won the bronze medal in the 400 metres at the 2017 World Championships, died in a car accident on Saturday, the global governing body of athletics said. He was 24 years old.
The former world junior champion had been hoping to qualify for this year's Tokyo Olympics, although he was undergoing rehabilitation following an injury.
Qatar Olympic Committee president Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani wrote on Twitter that they had lost a "heroic Qatari runner" in a tragic accident.
Haroun was born in Sudan and earned the right to represent Qatar in 2015, the same year he made his breakthrough when he captured the Asian 400m title at the age of 18 and set an Asian Under-20 record of 44.27.
He won the Asian indoor title the following year and claimed a silver at the World Indoor Championships in Portland, before going on to compete in the Rio Olympic Games in 2016.
Haroun became the first Asian world 400m medallist in 2017, when he claimed the bronze medal behind South Africa's Wayde van Niekerk and Steven Gardiner of the Bahamas in London.
He is Qatar's national record-holder with a best time of 44.07 set in 2018.
The Bio
Favourite vegetable: “I really like the taste of the beetroot, the potatoes and the eggplant we are producing.”
Holiday destination: “I like Paris very much, it’s a city very close to my heart.”
Book: “Das Kapital, by Karl Marx. I am not a communist, but there are a lot of lessons for the capitalist system, if you let it get out of control, and humanity.”
Musician: “I like very much Fairuz, the Lebanese singer, and the other is Umm Kulthum. Fairuz is for listening to in the morning, Umm Kulthum for the night.”
In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
- Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000
- Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000
- Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000
- Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000
- HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000
- Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000
- Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000
- Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000
- Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000
- Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000
- Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000
- Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
- Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
- Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
