Moh Ahmed healthy, in top fitness for much-anticipated half marathon debut Sunday in NYC

Coach Jerry Schumacher still marvels months later at how Moh Ahmed navigated the Paris Olympic men's 10,000-metre final. The way he executed his race, the decision-making, how he positioned himself and his final move on the 25th and last lap.

Ahmed worked his way to second spot 100 metres from the finish line last Aug. 2 at Stade de France after edging past two Ethiopian athletes. But within seconds, American Grant Fisher and then Ethiopia's Berihu Aregawi blew by him on the outside. The Canadian placed fourth in 26 minutes 43.79 seconds, 34-100ths behind the Calgary-born Fisher, his former Bowerman Track Club teammate, for a bronze medal.

"That might have been the best 10,000 metres he's ever run," Schumacher said recently. "I know he's run faster [with a 26:34.14 personal best] but how he raced it ... he wasn't trying to get on the podium. He tried to win the gold medal.

"It's hard to walk away from the track when you're running that well against world-class competition."

On Sunday, Ahmed is scheduled to make his long-awaited half marathon debut at 7 a.m. ET in New York City, where fellow Canadians Ben Flanagan, Tristan Woodfine and Andrew Davies will join him in the elite men's field.

WATCH | Paris 2024 Olympic 10,000m final:

Schumacher expects Ahmed to compete outdoors on the track this season, including the 5,000 and/or 10,000 in Tokyo at the World Athletics Championships in September since he has met the qualifying times.

But talk of the 34-year-old making the transition to road racing has never been louder.

Ahmed won the Ottawa 10K road race two years ago for his first Canadian 10K Championships title and planned to run a half marathon in January 2024 but withdrew from the Houston race after tweaking his