![Somalian sprinter Nasro Abukar Ali has gone viral (Image: CCTV)](/upload/news/2023/08/02/81438.jpg)
A Somalian sprinter has become the centre of controversy at the Summer World University Games after a video went viral of an entrant in the women's 100m sprint event looking completely out of her depth.
The athlete, listed as Nasro Abukar Ali on the event's website, competed in the third 100m heat and very quickly fell behind her rivals as fans claimed she should never have been there in the first place.
As soon as the starting gun fired, Ali was immediately left behind the other competitors and very quickly disappeared out of shot as the camera tracked the other five runners. Brazilian athlete Gabriela Silva Mourao won the heat with a time of 11.58 seconds, almost half of Ali's 21.81 time.
In fact, none of the other 49 athletes who competed across the seven women's 100m heats recorded a time anywhere close to 21.81 with the next slowest time, 13.64, still a full eight seconds quicker than Ali's race.
And fans were absolutely baffled by her participation in the event, with Elham Garaad initially sharing the footage on social media with the caption: "The Ministry of Youth and Sports should step down.
"It's disheartening to witness such an incompetent government. How could they select an untrained girl to represent Somalia in running? It's truly shocking and reflects poorly on our country internationally."
"She has never run a day in her life," responded another user. Another added: "Omg, I literally couldn’t believe it when I saw the video and there isn’t much that surprise me in Somalia anymore. But why embarrass the whole nation this way."
It has since been claimed that Ali is the niece of the Somalia Athletics Federation's senior vice-president Dr. Khadija Aden Dahir. Interestingly, Ali is one of only two Somalian athletes listed as competing on the event's website.
Middle distance runner Hassan Ali Idow finished fourth in his 1,500m heat and has advanced to the final. The 31st edition of the Summer World University Games is finally being held in Chengdu, China this year, having originally been scheduled to take place in 2021.
However, the pandemic forced the event to be postponed and it was eventually rescheduled for 2023 after the Russian invasion of Ukraine saw the Russian city of Yekaterinburg stripped of the right to host the 2023 University Games.