FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Lohalith leads six-strong Athlete Refugee Team at WCH Budapest 23
Two-time Olympian Anjelina Nadai Lohalith will lead a six-strong Athlete
Refugee Team (ART) squad at the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23.
Lohalith, 28, is the most experienced member of the team on the global
stage, having competed in the 1500m at the Rio and Tokyo Olympic Games and
2017 and 2022 World Championships. Late last year Lohalith moved up in
distance and met with immediate success. In February, she claimed a shock
win at the European Champion Clubs Cup Cross Country in Castellon, Spain,
marking the first time that an athlete in the World Athletics refugee team
programme notched a victory in an international competition. That led to a
focus on the 5000m this season. Lohalith clocked a modest 16:55.75 in her
first race over the distance in February and over the course of three more
races has improved to 15:33.85.
Lohalith fled her native South Sudan when she was nine and began running at
the Kakuma Refugee Camp in northern Kenya where her talent was spotted,
which led to her participation on the inaugural Refugee Olympic Team in
2016. While in Budapest, Lohalith will present the kit she wore in the
Castellon race to the Museum of World Athletics at a ceremony at the MOWA
exhibition on 22 August.
Lohalith will be joined by Tachlowini Gabriyesos, another Tokyo Olympian
and to date, the most successful refugee athlete. The 25-year-old native of
Eritrea attracted attention in early 2021 when he clocked 2:10:55 at the
Hula Lake Park Marathon in Israel to become the first refugee athlete to
achieve an automatic Olympic qualifier. He served as the team's co-flag
bearer at the Tokyo opening ceremony and later finished 16th in the
marathon. Gabriyesos will arrive in Budapest with a 2:09:00 personal best
set at the Seville Marathon in February.
He'll share the start line at Budapest Heroes' Square with Omar Hassan, an
ART debutant who qualified for the team by his position in the world
rankings. The 25-year-old, who fled from his native Ethiopia to Denmark in
2014, ran a personal best of 2:12:29 in Valencia last December.
Long jumper Mohammad Amin Alsalami, a native of Aleppo, Syria, is also
making his ART debut. The 25-year-old, who has been living in Germany since
2015, has a lifetime best of 7.88m outdoors and 7.87m indoors, both set in
2022. He’ll arrive in Budapest with a 7.81w season’s best – and as the
first refugee athlete to compete in a technical discipline at the World
Championships.
Fouad Idbafdil is another experienced ART member who will be making his
second appearance at the World Athletics Championships in the 3000m
steeplechase. The 35-year-old Moroccan native improved his personal best to
8:34.72 in July. He also has ART appearances at the 2020 World Half
Marathon Championships and the 2023 World Cross Country Championships under
his belt.
Perina Lokure Nakang rounds out the squad. The 20-year-old native of South
Sudan, who was a member of the first World Athletics U20 Refugee Team
programme, will compete in the 800m. Nakang is coached by 2007 world 800m
champion Janeth Jepkosgei, who will also serve as a team leader in
Budapest.
Last month, World Athletics announced that its World Partner ASICS has
become the official sponsor of the Athlete Refugee Team.
Athlete Refugee Team in Budapest
WOMEN
800m: Perina Lokure Nakang
5000m: Anjelina Nadai Lohalith
MEN
Marathon: Tachlowini Gabriyesos, Omar Hassan
3000m steeplechase: Fouad Idbafdil
Long jump: Mohammad Amin Alsalami
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