Dominic Lobalu: “You can change your life and fight for your dream”

From childhood trauma to a European title and a spot at the Olympics, Lobalu opens up about his remarkable journey and the importance of inspiring others

The medal moment was even sweeter than Dominic Lobalu could have imagined.

“When the guy put the gold medal around my neck, it was like going from sleeping on the dust to entering the bathroom, having a shower and all of it coming off,” says the man who was crowned European 10,000m champion earlier this summer.

There was much for him to shed. It’s not so long ago that even the simplest of comforts must have felt out of reach for the 26-year-old. He was just nine years old when he lost both of his parents in the second Sudanese Civil War and fled, alongside his four sisters, from their home in Chukudum to neighbouring Kenya.

His early teenage years were spent in Kakuma – where a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Camp became his home – but his life began to change one day when he was 15, running barefoot in a 10km race, and he caught the eye of double world 10,000m medallist and major marathon champion Tegla Loroupe.

It was a fateful moment. Loroupe invited Lobalu to her Peace Foundation and he subsequently represented the Athlete Refugee Team, an initiative set up by World Athletics, UNHCR and the IOC, to allow refugee athletes to compete internationally despite not having a country to run for. His international debut came a year later at the 2017 World Relays, before he then also ran in the 1500m at the World Championships in London.

The next sliding doors moment arrived in 2019, after winning a 10km road race in Geneva. Rather than going back to Kenya, Lobalu decided to seek asylum in Switzerland and was subsequently introduced to a secondary school teacher and part-time athletics coach named Markus Hagmann, who took the then 20-year-old under his wing.

“Without him I wouldn’t have achieved what I’ve had in life,” Lobalu says. “I remember when I met him years ago it was only him I knew in Switzerland. He did everything to help me. When I came to Switzerland I didn’t speak any kind of language anyone understood so he took care of everything.

“There were papers that I had to sign that could take me half a day to understand but he sorted all of that out. It allowed me to focus on training. My life would be so much harder without him.”

Lobalu’s story is the subject of a mini-documentary made by On, the Swiss brand he works with, called To Chase a Dream, and he has written another remarkable chapter over the past few months.

As well as that 10,000m victory in Rome, he also took 5000m silver at those championships, enjoyed a memorable 3000m Diamond League victory in London and became an Olympic finalist. Even though it was a case of what might have been for him in Paris – he missed out on a medal by just 14 hundredths of a second – that he was there at all is truly remarkable in itself.

“When I started out I never had [career achievements] in my mind,” Lobalu tells AW. “My goal was to just finish school. Some guys said I could do well in running but that was not my first goal. I was like: ‘The running doesn’t give anything and it’s too long!’.

“My main goal was to play football and that’s what everyone played and enjoyed. Now, sometimes, I wish I had started out running much earlier as I could have built my strength up more over time.”

It didn’t take long for Lobalu’s talent to shine through, though, and, after a couple of years working with Hagmann, he introduced himself to the world with a brilliant 3000m victory at the 2022 Stockholm Diamond League, clocking 7:29.48 to beat Tokyo Olympic bronze 10,000m medallist and world half-marathon record-holder Jacob Kiplimo.

Hagmann, who normally trains Lobalu in St. Gallen, also arranged a trip earlier this year – in conjunction with OAC Europe Head Coach Thomas Dreissigacker – to South Africa. It meant Lobalu ran with the likes of George Mills and Tom Elmer, providing insight into the way other elite athletes stacked their pre-season blocks.

“The camp with the middle-distance specialists was supposed to make me faster but I have never done more mileage before,” Lobalu says. “I now understand why and how they run 200 kilometres per week. Training with George, for instance, is easier than training alone. I like his mentality: Train hard, win easy.”

Lobalu’s ultimate dream was to be at the 2024 Paris Olympics, especially after the International Olympic Committee and UNHRC delivered a ruling in 2021 that stopped him from competing for the Refugee Olympic Team in Tokyo.

Bureaucratic challenges followed and Lobalu wasn’t allowed to represent Switzerland in international competitions. That ruling lasted until May of this year when World Athletics informed him that he could compete for the nation at events under their jurisdiction.

Just one month later Lobalu, wearing the red and white of Switzerland, won those European medals in the Italian capital.

“I was so emotional inside, in a good way,” he continues. “I never believed that I could represent a country where I could sing the national anthem and stand on the top step of the podium. When it happened the feeling was really amazing.

“The feeling I had when I crossed the line and on the podium was magical. I will never forget the reaction of the people supporting me who flew from Switzerland. When the national anthem came on I heard them singing my name and that was special. I thank them for the opportunity.”

Another opportunity presented itself in Paris. Although Lobalu was able to compete for Switzerland in World Athletics competitions, he was not permitted to do likewise at the Olympics. Instead, the IOC allowed him to temporarily join the Refugee Olympic Team.

His campaign didn’t start well in Paris. In a manic 5000m heat at a packed Stade de France, he was one of three athletes (along with Mills) who fell as the result of a collision in the final stretch of the race. He immediately got up, finished his run and waited for the judges’ decision.

“I was thinking ‘how come I’ve trained for all these years for the Olympics and it ended up this way?,” says Lobalu. “I had to wake up very quickly after I fell and put it out of my mind. Anything could happen. I just wanted to finish and cross the line because there could be a chance you can still get through to the final. I didn’t want to walk out.”

That decision paid off, with Lobalu being advanced to the final after the judges ruled that he was “unfairly obstructed”. Nonetheless, the emotional energy took its toll. On the day of the final Lobalu didn’t eat lunch and spent a lot of the afternoon sweating with nervous energy.

In the call room, he told himself that “this is the final you’ve worked so hard for” and “just be yourself” but, out on the track, the early stages were a struggle.

“It took me about two laps for my breathing to get back to normal,” he says. Yet he did work himself into the race and, after getting into his stride, Lobalu was in the leading pack in the latter stages.

Going into the final 200m, with Jakob Ingebrigtsen in dominant form, Lobalu set his sights specifically on Ronald Kwemoi, Hagos Gebrhiwet and Biniam Mehray.

Lobalu kicked hard and by the time he hit the line had passed both Gebrhiwet and Mehray. With Kwemoi getting silver, was a bronze a possibility? Sadly not as a storming Grant Fisher – the US athlete who had already claimed Olympic 10,000m bronze in Paris – secured the final podium spot by the smallest of margins.

“I now know why I lost out on the medals in the final 100m,” says Lobalu. “I didn’t kick like how I could and I also didn’t see the guy who was coming behind me.

“All my focus was on those in front of me, so when I saw the American guy next to me I was like: ‘What the hell?’. I have to accept, though, that this is sport.”

Having a little distance from that final, as well as everything else he has had to face, has indeed made Lobalu philosophical.

 

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“When they told me that I’d represent the refugee team I was happy as that was my dream to go to the Olympics,” he adds. “I got that chance to tell my story and others may not have the same opportunity.

“I’ve shown that you can change your life and fight for your dream. If people can realise that this guy can make it, then I’m really happy as I can motivate them. I know how hard life is and hopefully people can use my journey to help theirs.

“If I think back to when I started running, I’ve achieved a lot. Now I’m looking forward to 2025 and I will be continuing to chase my dream.”

» This feature first appeared in the November issue of AW magazine. Subscribe to AW magazine here, check out our new podcast here or sign up to our digital archive of back issues from 1945 to the present day here

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