diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..dfb7a75d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[submodule "mimalloc-bench"]
+	path = mimalloc-bench
+	url = https://github.com/daanx/mimalloc-bench.git
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index e63110c6..bd1c4442 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -328,14 +328,11 @@ larson_mi.o: $(LARSON_SRC)
 larson_mi: larson_mi.o
 	$(CXX) -o $@ $^ -L mimalloc-bench/extern/mi/out/release -lmimalloc $(LDFLAGS)
 
-# HAKMEM variant (override malloc/free to our front via shim, link core)
-bench_larson_hakmem_shim.o: bench_larson_hakmem_shim.c bench/larson_hakmem_shim.h
-	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -I core -c -o $@ $<
+# HAKMEM variant (hakmem.o provides malloc/free symbols directly)
+larson_hakmem.o: $(LARSON_SRC)
+	$(CXX) $(CFLAGS) -I core -c -o $@ $<
 
-larson_hakmem.o: $(LARSON_SRC) bench/larson_hakmem_shim.h
-	$(CXX) $(CFLAGS) -I core -include bench/larson_hakmem_shim.h -c -o $@ $<
-
-larson_hakmem: larson_hakmem.o bench_larson_hakmem_shim.o $(TINY_BENCH_OBJS)
+larson_hakmem: larson_hakmem.o $(TINY_BENCH_OBJS)
 	$(CXX) -o $@ $^ $(LDFLAGS)
 
 test_mf2: test_mf2.o $(TINY_BENCH_OBJS)
diff --git a/mimalloc-bench b/mimalloc-bench
new file mode 160000
index 00000000..6ec12891
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mimalloc-bench
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit 6ec12891f89ec5cb6fcaef4b5162a07a0b222fca