At age 18, El Bakkali placed fourth in the 3000 m steeplechase at the
2014 World Junior Championships in Athletics, and then made his senior debut at the
2014 African Championships in Athletics, placing tenth in the event. He also competed in
cross country running and was 18th as a junior at the
2015 IAAF World Cross Country Championships. At the
Rio Olympics, El Bakkali finished fourth, improving his personal to 8:14.35 minutes. He won the silver medal at the
2017 World Championships held in London in a time of
8:14.49 behind only
Conseslus Kipruto who ran 8:14.12. Two years later, at the
World Championships in
Doha, Qatar El Bakkali earned a bronze with a season's best of
8:03.76 behind Kipruto (8:01.35) and
Lamecha Girma (8:01.36). El Bakkali qualified to represent Morocco at the
2020 Tokyo Olympics where he won the gold medal in his signature event with a time of
8:08.90, ahead of Girma in 8:10.38 and
Benjamin Kigen (8:11.45). He thus became the first non-Kenyan-born athlete to win the title since Poland's
Bronislaw Malinowski did so at the
1980 Olympics in Moscow, and the first non-Kenyan born gold medallist at the Olympics or World Championships since 1987. On 18 September 2021, El Bakkali won his speciality event at the
Kip Keino Classic meeting in
Nairobi, Kenya, finishing with an 8:21.20 clocking. On 18 July 2022 at the
World Athletics Championships held in
Eugene, Oregon, El Bakkali became the world champion, winning the gold medal in the 3000 m steeplechase with a time of
8:25.13 ahead of Lamecha Girma (8:26.01) and Conseslus Kipruto (8:27.92). In September at the
Diamond League final in
Zürich, he claimed his first
Diamond Trophy. Just three days later, he capped his fine season with an African best in the 2000 m steeplechase, running 5:14.06 at the
Hanžeković Memorial in
Zagreb to move to third on the world all-time list for the event. El Bakkali was undefeated and ran the fastest time in the world that season, clocking 7:58.28 at
Rabat Diamond League. In November, he was shortlisted for the
World Athletics Male Athlete of the Year award. On 22 August 2023, El Bakkali won his second World Championship gold medal in the
2023 World Athletics Championships after placing first in the final race with a time of 8:03.53. On 7 August 2024, at the
Paris Olympics, El Bakkali defended his Olympic title in the
3000 m steeplechase, winning in a time of 8:06.05. He overtook American
Kenneth Rooks in the final straightaway, who took the lead in the bell lap. On 15 September 2025, El Bakkali won his second World Championship silver medal in the 3000m steeplechase with a time of 8:33.95, finishing 0.07 seconds behind New Zealand's
Geordie Beamish. == Personal life ==