Today's Edition
DUBAI (ALEITHAD)
It was a day of debutants, from Ethiopia, at the 23rd Dubai Marathon on Sunday as Tigist Ketema rewrote the record books in the women's category while the men's winner Addisu Gobena also struck notice of his talent in a different athletic discipline.
His Highness Sheikh Mansoor bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Sports Council (DSC), honoured the winners near the finish line along the Umm Suqeim Road. He wished them continued success in their sporting careers.
Until this weekend Tigist Ketema was better known as a middle-distance runner. The 25-year-old from Ethiopia won the 800-metre bronze at the World Under-20 Championships in 2016 and had seemingly never raced further than 10 kilometres before.
Yet in a scintillating debut over the full marathon distance of 42.1 kms, she ran 2:16.07 – the fastest ever debut by a woman ahead of Letesenbet Gidey's 2:16.49 from Valencia in 2022.
Fellow Ethiopians Ruti Aga and Dera Dida – the latter being the defending champion – took second and third places by a margin of 2 minutes, 2 seconds and 3.22 minutes respectively.
Meanwhile, Gobena beat an experienced field to win the men's race with 2:05:01 on the stopwatch. Just 19, he has a background as a javelin thrower but his aunt – Ruti Aga – suggested he try the marathon. Not only did he try, his efforts proved to be the best of the lot, enough to win the $80,000 men's prize. "I think I made the right decision," he said.
The second and third positions were claimed by his compatriots Lemi Dumecha, and Dejene Megersa, with times of 02:05:20 and 02:05:42 hours, respectively.
For Ketema, the decision was more circumstantial. "I didn't expect to win my first marathon," she said. "I only moved to the marathon because I wasn't getting the results that I wanted at 800m and 1500m."
Even at 5000m last year, Ketema struggled to impress as she finished 13th in the Diamond League in Brussels in a modest 15:17.27. In Dubai, though, with less than 5kms to go, she picked up a gear and never lost steam to smash the course record.
After thanking her coach Gemedu Dedefo for transforming her from a middle-distance runner to marathoner in barely a year of increased work, Ketema said: "I was quite afraid of the distance before I raced a marathon, but at the end, I wondered why."
شهدنا مشاركة الآلاف من المتسابقين من مختلف الجنسيات ضمن فئة الهواة لمسافة 10 كم pic.twitter.com/K0DVeBJbKL
— Dubai Sports Council (@DubaiSC) January 7, 2024
Dedefo, who also coaches world record-holder Tigist Assefa plus Amane Beriso and Tamirat Tola, added: "Judging by her training, I thought she could do 2:15, but I can't be dissatisfied with what she has done."
German Melat Kejeta, returning from a maternity break, came in fourth at 2:21:47. The athletes in the fifth to 10th positions after Kejeta were all Ethiopians.
At the post-race ceremony, His Highness Sheikh Mansoor bin Mohammed highlighted the importance of the coming together of community-level participation along with elite world champions spanning different age groups and fitness levels. This underscores Dubai's ongoing commitment to promote sports and encouraging people to embrace an active lifestyle, he said.
Also in attendance were Saeed Hareb, Secretary-General of DSC; Major General Dr. Mohammed Al Murr, President of the UAE Athletics Federation; Mohammed Al Kamali, General Coordinator of Dubai Marathon; and Nasser Aman Al Rahma, Assistant Secretary-General at DSC.
In the Wheelchair Elite category, Chinese participant Jin Hua emerged as the champion, completing the distance in 1:27:08 hours, while Emirati athlete Badir Al Hosani finished in fourth place.
The total prize money for the elite marathon race exceeds Dh1.2 million, evenly distributed among the top-10 finishers in both the men's and women's categories.
