2004-2007 Mekhissi-Benabbad made his first appearances as a junior athlete in 2004, running at the
2004 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, where he was 61st in the junior race, and at the
2004 World Junior Championships where he was eliminated in the heats of the 3000 m steeplechase. He ran in the
1500 metres event at the
2006 European Cup, where he finished eighth. Mekhissi-Benabbad represented
France at the
2006 IAAF World Cup, but only managed to finish eighth in the 1500 m event. Mekhissi-Benabbad won the 3000 m steeplechase
gold medal at the
2007 European Athletics U23 Championships. He competed in his first major senior event later that year – the
2007 World Championships - where he was eliminated in the heats of the 3000 m steeplechase competition.
2008 Mekhissi-Benabbad made significant progress in 2008, knocking seconds off his personal best at the
2008 Olympics to win the Olympic
3000 m steeplechase silver medal in a time of 8:10.49, only 15 hundredths of a second behind the gold medallist
Brimin Kipruto. He became the first non-Kenyan in 24 years to finish first or second in the Olympic 3000 m steeplechase event. Coincidentally, the last non-Kenyan to do so was a Frenchman—
Joseph Mahmoud—who won the silver medal at the
1984 Olympics in
Los Angeles. Mekhissi-Benabbad improved further at the 2008
Weltklasse Zürich meeting, finishing behind
Paul Kipsiele Koech in second place in a personal best time of 8:08.95, making him the fourth fastest 3000 m steeplechaser that year.
2009 Mekhissi-Benabbad opened the 2009 season with an appearance in the
3000 metres event at the
Qatar Athletic Super Grand Prix, where he registered a personal best of 7:53.50. Another personal best came in the 3000 m steeplechase at the
FBK Games in
Hengelo, again behind
Brimin Kipruto, as he took second place in 8:06:98. Mekhissi-Benabbad secured a prominent
2009 IAAF Golden League race victory at the
Meeting Areva in
Paris with a time of 8:13.23. He was selected to represent France at the
2009 World Championships in
Berlin, where he was seen as a possible medallist in the 3000 m steeplechase. But he failed to complete his heat in that event when he was forced to step off the track injured with just over a lap to go.
2010 Mekhissi-Benabbad took part in the
2010 World Indoor Championships, his first major indoor competition, where he reached the final of the 1500 m and finished in eighth position with a time of 3:45.22. During the outdoor season of 2010, he scored a steeplechase win in 8:08.82 over
Ezekiel Kemboi and
Richard Mateelong at the
Meeting International Mohammed VI d'Athlétisme de Rabat. Competing in the
Reims leg of the French
Alma Athlé Tour on 30 June, he broke
Bouabdellah Tahri's newly established world best of 5:13.47 (set only 5 days earlier on 25 June) in the 2000 m steeplechase. Mekhissi-Benabbad's new
world best of 5:10.68 was almost 4 seconds faster than the mark of 5:14.43 set on 21 Aug 1990 by
Julius Kariuki, the Kenyan who would hold the 2000 m steeplechase world best for almost 20 years until it was broken by Tahri.
2012 Mekhissi-Benabbad won his second consecutive 3000 m steeplechase Olympic silver medal at the
2012 Olympics in
London. In the
final, with 200 m in the race remaining,
Ezekiel Kemboi was in the lead, followed by
Abel Kiprop Mutai in second place,
Roba Gari in third place and Mekhissi-Benabbad in fourth place. Mekhissi-Benabbad then swept past both Gari and Mutai to finish second behind Kemboi. "I want to congratulate Ezekiel Kemboi because he won and it is not by chance because he won in 2004. ... He is stronger than me, but I do hope one day I can beat him," Mekhissi-Benabbad said right after the race. Right after the race, Kemboi did the victory dance he had become known for. He and Mekhissi-Benabbad exchanged jerseys and the diminutive Kemboi leaped into the much larger Mekhissi-Benabbad's arms.
2013 in
Moscow On 6 July 2013, Mekhissi-Benabbad set a
new 3000 m steeplechase European record of 8:00.09 in the race at the
Meeting Areva held in the
Stade de France. He beat the previous European record of 8:01.18 set in
Berlin at the
2009 World Championships by his compatriot
Bouabdellah Tahri. Mekhissi-Benabbad finished second in that Meeting Areva 3000 m steeplechase race, which was won by
Ezekiel Kemboi in the world's best time of the year (7:59.03). Mekhissi-Benabbad won his second consecutive 3000 m steeplechase
World Championships bronze medal at the
2013 World Championships in
Moscow. With about 300 metres to go in the
final, he passed
Ezekiel Kemboi, then
Paul Kipsiele Koech and became jointly in the lead with
Conseslus Kipruto. Just after clearing the third-last hurdle in the final bend, Kemboi saw his chance and surged forward to pass both Mekhissi-Benabbad and Kipruto. From then on, Kemboi never relinquished his lead. Kipruto overtook Mekhissi-Benabbad at the start of the final straight and eventually finished second behind Kemboi. Right after the race, Mekhissi-Benabbad admitted that he was finding it hard to cope with the pressure. "In the French team I am under a lot of stress and pressure, but I have to deal with it the best I can. ... I had to settle for bronze again but it is never easy to win one. I am on the podium and that is what counts."
2014 At the
2014 European Athletics Championships in
Zürich, Mekhissi-Benabbad was disqualified after finishing first in the final of
3000 m steeplechase. The action was taken after he removed his shirt on the home stretch of the final lap in an act of celebration, and the Spanish team lodged an official protest for "unsporting behaviour". The 3000 m steeplechase gold medal was awarded to fellow French athlete
Yoann Kowal, who had finished second in that race. Mekhissi-Benabbad would win the 1500m title three days later.
2015 In early April 2015, Mekhissi-Benabbad underwent an
operation on his right foot, which had been causing him pain, in a hospital in
Qatar. As he needed several months to recover from his operation, he was forced to miss the 2015 summer athletics season, including the
2015 World Championships in
Beijing.
2016 Mekhissi-Benabbad won the bronze medal in the 2016 Rio Olympic 3000 m steeplechase final. Having crossed the line in fourth place, he controversially filed a complaint against
Ezekiel Kemboi who had finished third. Kemboi was judged to have committed a lane violation, resulting in his disqualification. ==Mascot abuse incidents==