Abebe Bikila 1960, 64& Feyisa Lilesa 2016

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Monday, November 30, 2015

Ethiopia's Legese clocks 59:20 to win Delhi Half Marathon | iaaf.org




Ethiopia’s Birhanu Legese and Kenya’s Cynthia Limo came out on top after thrilling battles over the last kilometre for both the men’s and women’s titles at the 2015 Airtel Delhi Half Marathon on Sunday (29).
After a leading pack of 10 runners went through 10km in 27:56, five men were still in contention with just 500 metres to go ahead of the finish line in the Indian capital’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
After an initial surge by Ethiopia’s Mosinet Geremew, Legese overtook his compatriot with barely 100 metres remaining and crossed the line in a personal best of 59:20, with Geremew one second in arrears.
“I am very happy, I enjoyed the course and enjoyed the race. It was very easy for me,” said Legese, whose winning time equalled the third fastest mark in the world this year
Just 21, Legese notched up his second major half marathon victory this year, having also won the Berlin Half Marathon back in March where he set his previous best of 59:45. In Delhi, he was just 14 seconds outside the course record set in 2014 by another Ethiopian, Guye Adola.
Legese first came to international attention as a 19-year-old when he ran 27:34 to finish second at the Taroudant 10km road race in Morocco. His first half marathon came in the German capital eight months ago and he returned to form in Delhi after two relatively lacklustre half marathons in September.
As the fastest Ethiopian on the 2015 world lists, Legese will possibly make his international championship debut at the IAAF/Cardiff University World Half Marathon Championships Cardiff 2016 on 26 March next year, where he potentially could bid to give his country its first individual men's title since Haile Gebrselassie also won on British soil, in nearby Bristol, back in 2001.
Eritrea’s world record-holder and four-time world half marathon champion Zersenay Tadese, now 33, is another man who may well be in Cardiff.

Strength in depth in Delhi

In Delhi, Tadese did not quite have the sheer acceleration of his younger rivals over the final few hundred metres on Sunday but will still have been satisfied with third place in 59:24, his fastest time for more than four years.
The Kenyan pair of Edwin Kiptoo, who made much of the pace from halfway until the final kilometre, and Jonathan Maiyo finished fourth and fifth respectively but were given the same time of 59:26 to provide an exceptional depth of performances at the top end of the men's race. Only two other half marathons in history have had five men run under 59:30.
Limo took the women’s race in 1:08:35 after outsprinting her compatriots Helah Kiprop and Gladys Chesire over the last 200 metres. Limo always looked the most likely to triumph after increasing the tempo at the front of the race with three kilometres to go.
Kiprop, the world marathon silver medallist, snatched second place in the final 30 metres and was given the same time as the winner while Chesire was one second further back to complete an all-Kenyan women’s podium.
After being dropped coming into the last kilometre, Ethiopia’s Genet Yalew finished fourth in 1:08:46.
In eighth place, world steeplechase finalist Lalita Babar showed that she is also a talented runner over longer distances. The Asian steeplechase champion took exactly four minutes off the Indian record with a time of 1:10:52.
Pre-race favourite and world record-holder Florence Kiplagat from Kenya failed in her bid to win in Delhi for a third successive year and had a disappointing day.
The Chicago Marathon winner clearly had last month’s marathon in the Windy City still in her legs and she started to struggle from six kilometres into the race, eventually dropping out at about halfway despite the relatively modest initial pace which saw the seven women in the leading pack pass 10km in 33:43.
More than 13,000 runners took part in the Delhi Half Marathon itself, with an estimated 36,000 participants in all the associated running events in the Indian capital on Sunday.

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Leading results from the 2015 Airtel Delhi Half MarathonEN

Saturday, November 28, 2015

IAAF athletes of 2015: Ashton Eaton & Genzebe Dibaba win awards - BBC Sport



Ashton Eaton
Eaton, competing in his first decathlon in two years in Beijing, broke his own world record by nine points


American Ashton Eaton and Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia won the IAAF's athlete of the year awards for 2015.
Eaton, 27, scored 9,045 points to break his own world record and win gold at the World Championships in Beijing.
Dibaba, 24, set a new 1500m world record of three minutes 50.07 seconds and also winning 1500m gold and 5,000m bronze at the Worlds in August.
The annual awards dinner in Monaco was cancelled because of the corruption and doping issues affecting the sport.
Eaton won the award ahead of Jamaican sprint superstar Usain Bolt, who won three gold medals in Beijing and American triple jump world champion Christian Taylor.
"I did not beat Usain and Christian; my work simply differed in design," said Eaton.
"They are some of the most talented and beautiful performers of all time. I'm flattered to be among them."
Dibaba the sister of three-time Olympic champion Tirunesh, said: "After narrowly missing out on this award one year ago, I am very proud to be recognised by the fans and experts of our sport."
Lord Coe, president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), added: "While the athletics family is not gathering together as usual in Monaco, we rightly celebrate the marvellous 2015 achievements of the athletes.
"I offer congratulations to Ashton and Genzebe. Your performances in 2015 are an inspiration and examples of true sporting excellence."


Genzebe Dibaba
Dibaba holds indoor world records over 1500m, 3,000m, two miles and 5,000m


Thursday, November 12, 2015

Russian whistleblower urges Kenya, Ethiopia focus

 "Russian whistleblower urges Kenya, Ethiopia focus
by AGENCE FRANCE PRESSEATHLETICSWednesday November 11, 2015

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World athletics’ governing body the IAAF said it “strongly rejected” allegations of thousands of suspicious blood tests from athletes, and insisted it was taking every possible measure to combat doping. PHOTO/AFP

LONDON, November 11 – The whistleblower who sparked the global investigation into doping in Russian athletics has called for the sport’s authorities to also look at countries such as Kenya and Ethiopia.

Andrey Baranov, a Russian sports agent, wrote a signed deposition to world athletics’ governing body the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) in April 2014 outlining bribery and extortion related to doping in Russian athletics.

It led to the bombshell report published on Monday by an independent commission of the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) that revealed “state-supported” doping in Russian athletics and called for the country to be suspended from the sport.

But Baranov told Wednesday’s edition of The Guardian newspaper: “It is wrong just to be focusing on Russia. There should be a similar investigation into countries like Kenya and Ethiopia too.

“Their top athletes are earning far more than the Russians. Yet their levels of testing are very limited.”

Kenya has long faced accusations of doping and Dick Pound, the former WADA president who led the independent commission, said the country “has a real problem and has been very slow to acknowledge it”.

Baranov’s deposition to the IAAF revealed that officials from the Russian athletics federation had extorted 450,000 euros ($480,000) from his client, marathon-runner Liliya Shobukhova, who was banned and stripped of her titles last year due to anomalies in her biological passport.

The Guardian reported that one of the officials was Russian coach Alexei Melnikov, who the WADA report recommended should be banned for life.

Several senior IAAF figures are also under investigation due to Baranov’s testimony and he admitted that he was worried about the potential consequences of speaking out.

“Of course I am worried, but what are you going to do?” he said. “It had to be done for the future.”

Shobukhova was able to compete at the London 2012 Olympics after allegedly bribing officials to cover up evidence of doping, but Baranov said she had played an important part in bringing the scandal to light.

“Liliya is cooperating with WADA and the IAAF commission and she has done so much to expose this corruption which took place between the IAAF and the Russian Athletics Federation as well as between other athletes and other international bodies,” he said.

“Liliya was also brave to speak out, but some Russians don’t 100 percent understand what she did because it was not published. Not many people know what she did and what she went through.”"



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