He spent the early part of his career in Norway and established himself with performances at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, where he helped his nation to team bronze medals at the 2002 and 2003 editions.

On 7 June 2012, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) announced that Goumri was provisionally suspended on the basis of abnormal blood values in his "biological passport."

His tenth and fifteenth position finishes in the short and long race of the 2003 IAAF World Cross Country Championships brought two further team bronze medals for Morocco.

[11] Goumri improved one place to 14th in the long race at the 2004 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, but the Moroccans were edged into fourth by the Eritrean team.

He was ninth at the 2004 IAAF World Athletics Final,[11] but gained a medal on the regional stage as he took the silver behind Khoudir Aggoune at the Pan Arab Games.

[13] Eighteenth in the short race at the 2005 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, he and his teammates Adil Kaouch, Mohamed Moustaoui and Hicham Bellani were again the fourth best (beaten this time by Qatar).

He scored another track career best at the Memorial van Damme in August with a time of 12:50.25 minutes for the 5000 m – a mark which ranked him eleventh on the all-time lists behind Hicham El Guerrouj.

Just as in London, the race came down to a battle between Lel and the Moroccan, and history repeated itself as the Kenyan sprinted ahead to win while Goumri settled for second (recording a time of 2:09:16).

[22] New York was again a venue for redemption and, although he controlled the race from the front in the latter stages, he faded in the final stretch and allowed Marilson Gomes Dos Santos to beat him into second place.

[24] He ran a tempered race at the 2009 Chicago Marathon and his decision to ignore the fast opening pace paid off, as he overhauled all but Samuel Wanjiru and recorded his second fastest ever time with 2:06:04.