Ethiopian athletes had a triumphant week in competitions held in different parts of the world last weekend. The performance they have been showing since last week, especially in domestic competitions, has already made them a contender for victory at the World Championships to be held in Nanjing, China, in the middle of next month.
The competitions held at different distances with a difference of days were particularly successful for female athletes. Athlete Gudaf Tsegay, who finished second in the 3,000m race in Turin, France, won the 1,500m indoor race in Poland yesterday. In doing so, she made a great effort to improve her previous world record. Although she was 0.83 seconds behind, her time of 3:53.92 became the local record and the second fastest in the world.
Two-time world indoor champion Gudaf, in her post-race comments, indicated that she had been suffering from a cold in Levin a few days earlier.
In the men’s race held at the same venue, Binyamin Mehari finished second in 3:35.70. In another competition called the Copernicus Cup in Orléans, Poland, another Ethiopian athlete, Tsege Dguma, won the 800m. Athlete Tsige, who won her third overall in the distance at this year’s indoor competition, had won the Metz and Livigno indoor competitions held in France . She won the previous day’s event in 2:00.04. With this, Tsige is now tied with South Africa’s Prudence Sekodiso for 20 points in the two gold-level World Athletics Indoor Tour events. The overall winner of the women’s 800m in the series of competitions will be determined by the results recorded in the final race in Madrid a few weeks later.
On the other hand, Ethiopian athletes won both genders in the 10km race held in Castellón, Spain. Athlete Yomif Kejelcha won the men’s race, which is classified as a “label” by the World Athletics. The athlete ran a race to improve his own record, but his best effort was six seconds behind. However, his time of 26 minutes and 30 seconds is considered the second fastest time of all time. Strong competitor Kuma Girma also came in second.
On the same day, in the half marathon race held in Barcelona, the world record set by Yomif several months ago was broken by Ugandan athlete Jacob Koplimo. Koplimo improved his record by 48 seconds in this gold-medal event.
In the women's race, young athlete Medina Issa won the same race, finishing in 29:24. She was followed by Lekhna Ambau and Einadis Mebratu. After the race, the winning athlete said, "I was nervous because it was my first 10km race. "However, I am very happy that everything has been sorted out and I am successful," she said, according to the World Athletics website.