Early life and junior career A native of the
Bale Province, Ethiopia, he became attracted to the idea of professional running after seeing his countryman
Haile Gebrselassie beat
Paul Tergat to win gold at the
2000 Sydney Olympics. He began competing internationally for his country at the age of 16 and he won the
3000 metres silver medal at the
2005 World Youth Championships in Athletics, finishing behind compatriot
Abreham Cherkos. That November he competed at the
Great Ethiopian Run and finished fourth, setting a 10 km road best of 28:45.99. The following year he took fifth place in the junior race at the
2006 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, helping the Ethiopian juniors, led by
Tariku Bekele, to the team silver medal. Success on the track followed soon after as he won the Ethiopian title in the
10,000 metres, beating
Tadesse Tola, and then won gold in the event at the
2006 World Junior Championships in Athletics In January 2007, he helped his club (Muger Cement Sports Club) to second place at the Ethiopian Marathon Relay Championships, then went on to win the
Cross de San Sebastián in
Spain. In spite of this, the 2007 season was marked by a series of setbacks for Jeilan. He failed to finish the junior race at the
2007 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in
Mombasa, later saying that "heat and the heaviness of the air suffocated me". He also lost his national title on the track, failing to reach the top three at the Ethiopian Championships. His performances on the track circuit were modest – his tenth place at the
Golden Gala was almost ten seconds off his previous season's performance while a 10,000 m appearance at the
FBK Games saw him placed 17th and run more than 45 seconds off his best. He returned to good form in 2008: he won the national junior
cross country title but remarked (in reference to his poor 2007) "I had some personal problems which I do not want to speak about. The problems still exist but I hope they can be solved". At the
2007 IAAF World Cross Country Championships he dispelled the memory of his previous year by becoming the world junior champion, using a combination of tactics and fast finishing to win the race. This completed an Ethiopian sweep of all four titles at the championship. The withdrawal of
Kenenisa Bekele from the
2008 African Championships in Athletics left a berth which Ibrahim filled. He formed part of a three-man Ethiopian sweep of the medals, taking the silver behind
Gebregziabher Gebremariam. He started well on the circuit, managing fourth at the FBK Games then finishing as runner-up at the
Prefontaine Classic, behind Kenenisa Bekele who ran virtually solo for the fourth fastest ever time. He attempted to defend his world junior 10,000 m title but was out-raced by Kenyans
Josphat Kipkoech Bett and
Titus Mbishei thus had to settle for the
bronze medal. He won the
Giro di Castelbuono 10K road race in
Sicily in July, and brought his track season to a close two weeks later with an anticlimactic 15th at the Memorial van Damme. He ran at the
São Silvestre de Luanda in
Angola that December and won the 15 km race in course record time.
2009-Present His 2009 was low-key – moving beyond the junior ranks, he competed at no major championships. In June he was 14th at the FBK Games, and then recorded 27:22.19 in the 10,000 m for fourth place in
Utrecht two weeks later. A third-place finish at the
Beach to Beacon 10K in a personal best 28:20 proved to be the highlight of his season. His disappointment at not being selected for the
2009 World Championships in Athletics led him to change his location, as he decided to move to
Saitama in
Japan to work with the
Honda corporate running team. In his sole outing over 10,000 m in 2010 he ran 27:12.43 minutes – the sixth fastest that year. A 10,000 m run in 27:09.02 minutes saw him gain selection for the
2011 World Championships in Athletics in
Daegu. Ibrahim caused an upset in the 10,000 m final by overhauling
Mo Farah in the final stages of the race to win the
gold medal. Farah had been undefeated up until that point that year while Ibrahim had come from relative obscurity, having competed only in Japan for almost two years. Runner-up Farah said "I didn't have a clue about the guy. I hadn't seen him, so I didn't know what he could do or what he was capable of." He could not build upon his form in 2012 as he was ruled out for the entire season and missed the
2012 Summer Olympics, where his rival Farah won a long-distance double. He returned to action at the
Great Ireland Run, where he finished third. Jeilan returned in time for the
2013 World Championships, this time winning the silver medal behind Farah. In 2014, Jeilan took his first attempt at longer distances in a major race, running the
Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon in 1:01:47, to finish tenth overall. == Personal bests ==