Tirfi Tsegaye

Tirfi Tsegaye

Tsegaye at the 2016 Olympics
Personal information
Born	25 November 1984 (1984-11-25) (age 40)
Height	162 cm (5 ft 4 in)[1]
Weight	52 kg (115 lb)
Sport
Sport	Athletics
Event(s)	10,000 m, marathon
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	10,000 m – 31:57 (2012) marathon – 2:19:41 (2016)[2]

Tirfi Tsegaye Beyene (born 25 November 1984) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who competes in marathon races. She has won the Berlin Marathon, the Paris Marathon (in a course record), the Tokyo Marathon (also in course-record time), and the Dubai Marathon. Her personal best of 2:20:18 hours came as winner of the 2014 Berlin Marathon.

Career

Born in Bekoji in Ethiopia's Oromia Region, she comes from a town renowned for producing world class runners such as Kenenisa Bekele and Tirunesh Dibaba.^[3] In one of her first major races, Tirfi won the Porto Marathon in 2008 with a time of 2:35:31 hours.^[4] She improved her best to 2:29:04 hours with a runner-up finish at the 2009 Turin Marathon and then bettered that with a run of 2:28:16 hours for second at the Shanghai Marathon.^[5][6] She also made her debut over the half marathon at the 2009 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships, where her run of 1:09:24 brought her sixth place and a team silver medal with Ethiopia.^[7]

Tirfi was runner-up to Atsede Baysa at the 2010 Paris Half Marathon,^[8] then finished behind her again at the Paris Marathon a month later, although Tirfi's time of 2:24:51 hours for third place was a significant personal best.^[9] She again made the podium at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon, setting another best of 2:22:44 hours and finishing second behind Sharon Cherop.^[10] She was also runner-up at the Shanghai Marathon for the second year running, beaten to the title by Nailiya Yulamanova.^[11]

She was invited to compete at the 2011 Boston Marathon and she finished in eleventh in the high-profile race.^[12] She came fifth at that year's Lille Half Marathon then was three seconds behind Shanghai Marathon winner Haile Lema Kebebush in December with her time of 2:24:11 hours (her third straight second-place finish at the race).^[13] At the Roma-Ostia Half Marathon in February 2012 she ran a personal best of 1:07:42 hours for third place.^[14] She was the pre-race favourite for the Paris Marathon and delivered on the status by winning the race in a course record and personal best time of 2:21:39 hours, over three minutes ahead of runner-up Sultan Haydar.^[15] Running alongside her training partner, Aberu Kebede, she was runner-up at the 2012 Berlin Marathon with a personal best time of 2:21:19 hours.^[16]

In January 2013, she won the Dubai Marathon despite the heavy fog during the race, with a time of 2:23:23, 16 seconds ahead of runner-up Ehitu Kiros.^[17] She performed less well in her second race of the year, coming seventh at the Frankfurt Marathon in 2:26:57 hours.^[18]

She won the 2014 Berlin Marathon, held on 28 September 2014, in a personal best time of 2:20:18.^[19]

References

1. Tirfi Tsegaye. rio2016.com
2. Tirfi Tsegaye. IAAF
3. Tirfi Tsegaye. Boston Marathon. Retrieved on 2012-04-22.
4. Fernandes, Antonio Manuel (2008-10-28). Mugo takes Porto Marathon. IAAF. Retrieved on 2012-03-22.
5. April 2009 AIMS Results. AIMS. Retrieved on 2012-04-22.
6. November 2009 AIMS Results. AIMS. Retrieved on 2012-04-22.
7. 2009 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships results Archived 7 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine. IAAF (2009-10-11). Retrieved on 2009-10-11.
8. March 2010 AIMS Results. AIMS. Retrieved on 2012-04-22.
9. Vazel, Pierre-Jean (2010-04-11). 2:22:04 World lead for Baysa, Tola improves to 2:06:41 – Paris Marathon report. IAAF. Retrieved on 2012-04-22.
10. Gains, Paul (2010-09-26). Mungara and Cherop take Toronto Marathon titles as Canadian All-Comers records tumble. IAAF. Retrieved on 2012-04-22.
11. Marathon 2010. IAAF. Retrieved on 2012-04-22.
12. Marathon 2011. IAAF. Retrieved on 2012-04-22.
13. December 2011 AIMS Results. AIMS. Retrieved on 2012-04-22.
14. Sampaolo, Diego (2012-02-26). Kiplagat sizzles sub-1:07 at Roma-Ostia Half. IAAF. Retrieved on 2012-04-22.
15. Vazel, Pierre-Jean (2012-04-15). Biwott 2:05 and Tsegaye 2:21 defy windy conditions to set race records at Paris Marathon. IAAF. Retrieved on 2012-04-21.
16. Butcher, Pat (2012-09-30). Close victory for Mutai but more straightforward for Kebede in Berlin – REPORT. IAAF. Retrieved on 2013-01-31.
17. Butcher, Pat (2013-01-25). Debutant Desisa wins Dubai Marathon in 2:04:45, five men under 2:05. IAAF. Retrieved on 2013-01-25.
18. Wenig, Jörg (2013-10-27). Kipruto and Kilel make it a Kenyan double at Frankfurt Marathon. IAAF. Retrieved on 2013-11-02.
19. Mulkeen, Jon & Minshull, Phil (2014-09-28). Kimetto breaks marathon world record in Berlin with 2:02:57. IAAF. Retrieved on 2014-10-03.

External links

• Tirfi Tsegaye at World Athletics
• Marathon Info profile