This Palestinian Olympian Continues To Chase After Her Dream On The Track

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When Layla Almasri steps to the line of the women’s 5,000 meters on Saturday at the Sunset Tour in Los Angeles, California, it will be another reminder of the faith she’s placed in herself to go places she never dreamed possible only a few years earlier.

Such as the Olympics.

The 26-year-old Colorado native and Palestinian-American athlete, who made the one-time switch to represent her parent’s home country in March 2023, progressed all the way to the Paris Olympics last August, using a universality place to run for Palestine in the women’s 800 meters.

But for Almasri, a former NCAA Division II walk-on whose best event is the 5,000 meters, that moment came with a slight asterisk after she finished second to last out of 49competitors at the distance.

To some, that opportunity would be just that. A brilliant moment, and one to cherish. And to Almasri, it was.

But today, her faith has carried her even greater lengths forward, past those old personal best marks, and it has allowed her to hold on to the idea that she can compete with any woman in the world. In April, she ran 15:40.72 for 5,000 meters at the Bryan Clay Invitational, a time that registers 51 seconds better than her career-best mark at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs in 2022 but 50 seconds shy of the World Championship standard.

It’s currently among the top 300 performances in the world at the distance.

“As a coach, my goal is just to try and support her the best I can,” said Corey Kubatzky, Almasri’s former coach at UCCS and her current post-collegiate lead. “But any way you cut it, she’s running at a high level.”

A universality place with Palestine heading into the World Championships in Tokyo in September is still possible, Almasri said, but if it was up to her, she’d earn her spot based on time. Right now, she’s ranked 163rd in the Road To Tokyo world ranking.

“I haven’t hit my ceiling yet,” she said. “I have a lot of room to grow.”

What Inspires Palestinian Athlete Layla Almasri On The Track

Of course, there is much more driving Almasri beyond the spate of times and finishes she’ll convene on the track.

As the Gaza war wages on between Hamas and Israel—at present juncture, more than 55,000 Palestinians have died, according to a report in June—she knows she’s been given a platform to inspire those watching on.

“In today’s climate as a Palestinian athlete, it also comes with the responsibility of uplifting the voices and bringing awareness and humanizing Palestinians,” she said. “They do sports, too.”

Last August, Almasri, whose parents moved to the U.S. in the early 90s and carved out hard-working, blue-collar careers in Colorado, begun to realize the impact she was having at the Olympics by just wearing the name Palestine across her chest.

“All these people were stopping and saying, ‘You inspire me,’” she said. “It shows that in the Middle Eastern world we have a place in sports.”

Walking through the Olympic village with Almasri, Kubatzky was left awed by the moment, too.

“I’m not Palestinian,” he said. “But that level of humanity, that was really cool to see. That’s what the Olympics were all about.”

It was only three years ago, before the war, that Almasri visited her parent’s hometown of Nablus for the first time. During a weekday stroll in the city off the West Bank, she saw a sea of men and realized a road race was set to commence.

Almasri decided to jump in, a pair of dusty trainers on her feet. Zooming down the dirt-caked streets, she dominated the 2,000 meter race, finishing between a peloton of fans and beating all but one competitor. “For a woman to beat all these men,” said Almasri, who has the trophy from that race on her desk today, “They asked me: ‘Who are you?’”

Turns out, important figures from the Palestinian Olympic Committee were watching on.

Once Almasri returned to Colorado, she regrouped with Kubatzky and the pair sent an email off to the POC and began the process of switching her international representation.

“He was a been a big catalyst,” Almasri said of her coach. “He’s been planting the seed in my head for years and has always told me, ‘You should run for your family’s country.’”

How Layla Almasri Continues Her Path Forward On The Track

PARIS, FRANCE - AUGUST 02: Layla Almasri of Team Palestine competes during the Women's 800m Round 1 ... More on day seven of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Stade de France on August 02, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

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For Almasri, however, it may still feel like a dream to be in this position. “I didn’t think I would run in college,” she said.

As a senior in high school at Pine Creek High School, just outside Colorado Springs, she was no Division I recruit.

“I’m not Palestinian. But that level of humanity, that was really cool to see. That’s what the Olympics were all about.”

“I originally told her she wasn’t fast enough to be on the team,” Kubatzky said. “She wasn’t a superstar coming out of high school. She wasn’t even a top three senior on her high school team.”

Four years later, though, the former walk-on left as one of the best in program history, earning school records in the indoor 3,000 meters and outdoor 5,000 meters.

As she reclassified her national allegiance to Palestine, Almasri competed for the country for the first time in 2023 at the Arab Championships, finishing in the top five in both the 1,500 meters and the 5,000 meters, before two more efforts followed at the Asian Athletic Championships, where she earned dual eighth-place finishes.

Then last year, as she lowered her personal best times significantly, she got a call less than two weeks before the Olympic Games.

A universality spot had her name on it.

“We weren’t sure it would happen,” Kubatzky said of the universality spot, which offered Olympic opportunity for nations with underrepresentation at the Games. The only hiccup? Athletes within this group had to choose between the 100 meters, 800 meters and the marathon.

“And then we ended up finding out 10 days before Paris. We were ready.”

Layla Almasri Remains Committed To Her Path In This Sport

For all her success on the track, though, Almasri remains, like many others in this sport, split between the realities of life and her pursuits. She currently lives and trains in Colorado Springs.

She is currently unsponsored, which means her ambitions have a price. In April, as she logged an elite time in the 5,000 meters at the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa, California and chased deeper and deeper after her dream, she still was required to pay the cost to fly and stay there.

Almasri works part-time in a radiology clinic, while she splits time coaching the UCCS track and field women alongside Kubatzky. She is forced to allocate whatever time she has left to training and recovery.

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“It’s harder to justify continuing to race,” said Almasri, who has a small grassroots partnership with a local Lululemon store in Colorado Springs. “No one is forcing you to do it.

"But for me, I want to see how good I can get.”

It hasn’t taken away from her pursuits. Over the last four years, Almasri has chopped nearly two minutes off her personal best time in the 5,000 meters, 48 seconds in the 3,000 meters and 23 seconds in the 1,500m. She’s the fastest woman in Palestinian history over those three distances.

Clearly, something is working.

“She keeps getting better and better,” Kubatzky said. “It’s like watching your kid grow up. Sometimes, you don’t realize it.”

In May, Almasri traveled to South Korea ran at the Asian Athletics Championships for the second time and ended up finishing eighth in the 1,500 meters and 5,000 meters, though she was also handed a reality check.

“I forgot people throw elbows,” she said of the 1,500 final. “I wasn’t ready for it. It’s been a while since I’ve raced Championship-style.”

Can Layla Almasri Become One Of The Best In The World At 5,000 Meters?

Just how fast can Almasri go in the right field?

That’s the question she will try to answer on Saturday in the women’s 5,000 meters at the Sunset Tour.

The Coloradan, who has broken 16 minutes three times this season, will line up on the track at Jack Kemp Stadium in Los Angeles in the second of three sections, facing off against women with PRs in the 15:20s.

More than anything, she says, she wants to race up to the moment and compete. But however it shakes out, her goal is to represent herself, and her country.

“We can use this sport as a tool to open up doors,” she said. “Some Palestinians can’t run because they’re not welcome in places. What I want to say is that ‘We deserve that space, too. We have dreams and aspirations.’”

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