Samuel Tsegay

Samuel Tsegay

Samuel Tsegay in the marathon at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Personal information
Born	(1988-02-24) February 24, 1988 (age 36) Ethiopia
Height	1.76 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in)
Weight	59 kg (130 lb)
Sport
Country	Eritrea
Sport	Athletics
Event	Marathon
Updated on 22 July 2012

Samuel Tsegay Tesfamriam (born 24 February 1988) is an Eritrean long-distance runner running for the Swedish track club Hälle IF and currently going through the process of acquiring Swedish citizenship,^[1] who specializes in the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres. As a junior, he competed in the junior races at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, finishing seventeenth in 2005, eighth in 2006 and eighth in 2007. He finished fourth in the 10,000 metres at the 2006 World Junior Championships.^[2]

At the 2009 World Cross Country Championships he finished sixteenth in the senior race.^[2] The Eritrean team took bronze medals in the team competition.^[3] He finished fifth at the 2009 World Half Marathon Championships, and competed in the 5000 metres at the 2009 World Championships.^[2] A fifth place at the 2010 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships gained him a team silver medal alongside Zersenay Tadese.^[4] He took third at the Cross Valle de Llodio in November behind compatriot Teklemariam Medhin.^[5]

He ran at the 2011 IAAF World Cross Country Championships but was ultimately disqualified as he and Ethiopia's Abera Kuma began fighting on the final stretch. Reflecting the history of antipathy between the nations, Tsegay accused the Ethiopian of deliberately elbowing him and standing on his heels from behind, thus he reacted by grabbing Abera's leg and threw a punch before dashing to the finish. The IAAF disqualified both athletes for their conduct.^[6] He ran a personal best of 2:07:28 hours at the Amsterdam Marathon in October that year. Although this time brought him the national record for the marathon, previously held by Yonas Kifle, he only finished eighth in the high calibre race.^[7] At the 2012 Egmond Half Marathon he took third place.^[8]

His personal best times are 13:16.59 minutes in the 5000 metres, achieved in July 2009 in Barcelona; 28:20.96 minutes in the 10,000 metres, achieved in June 2009 in Villeneuve-d'Ascq; and 59:21 hours in the half marathon, achieved in March 2014 in Copenhagen.^[2]

References

1. Lindgren, Christer (April 12, 2021). "Hällelöparen Samuel Tsegays jakt på OS-plats – en ny kamp mot klockan". bohuslaningen.se.
2. Samuel Tsegay at World Athletics
3. "Official Team Results Senior Race - M". IAAF. 28 March 2009. Archived from the original on 2 April 2010. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
4. Ramsak, Bob (16 October 2010). "Kiprop dethrones Tadese - Men's Race – Nanning 2010". IAAF. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
5. Valiente, Emeterio (29 November 2010). "Medhin and Aguilar reign in Llodio". IAAF. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
6. Two runners exchange blows in the last stretch Archived 2012-03-30 at the Wayback Machine. Terra.es (21 March 2011). Retrieved 11 September 2011.
7. van Hemert, Wim (16 October 2011). "Chebet sizzles sub-2:06, course record for Gelana in Amsterdam". IAAF. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
8. van Hemert, Wim (9 January 2012). "In debut, Wolde sets course record at Egmond Half Marathon". IAAF. Retrieved 9 May 2016.