Gudaf Tsegay Desta (born 23 January 1997) is an Ethiopian middle- and

long-distance runner Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely aerobic in nature and requires stamina as well as mental strength. Within endurance running comes two d ...

. She is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist in the women's

5000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a s ...

. At the

World Athletics Championships The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the Ol ...

, she won a bronze for the

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athle ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

and a silver in this event and gold for the 5000 m in

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

. Tsegay is a two-time 1500 m World Indoor Championship medallist, winning gold in

and bronze in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

. She is the current

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

holder in the indoor 1500 m, the event in which she also set world under-18 (current) and U20 records. At age 17, she was the 2014 World Junior Championship 1500 m silver medalist. She represented her country over the distance at the 2014 World Indoor Championships. Tsegay is a versatile runner. As of September 2022, she was the world's 10th fastest woman in the indoor

800 metres The 800 metres, or meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since th ...

, and sixth for both the 5000 m and

10,000 metres The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is common at championship level events. The ra ...

Career

In February 2014, a 17-year-old Gudaf Tsegay set the world's fastest under-18 mark for the indoor

with a time of 4m 8.47s in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...

. In July, she became the World Junior Championship silver medallist in

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. As of the 2020 United States Census, ...

with a time of 4:10.83, behind her compatriot

Dawit Seyaum Dawit Seyaum Biratu (born 27 July 1996) is an Ethiopian middle- and long-distance runner who specialises in the 1500 metres. She placed fourth at the 2015 World Championships and won the silver medal at the 2016 World Indoor Championships. Da ...

in 4:09.86. Two years later, Tsegay broke world under-20 record at this indoor event in a time of 4m 1.81s in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

, beating previous best set by her compatriot Kalkidan Gezahegne in 2010 by more than a second. Tsegay's record was bettered in 2020 by her another compatriot Lemlem Hailu. At the World Indoor Championships held in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous ...

, she won the bronze medal in 4:05.71 behind only

Sifan Hassan Sifan Hassan ( om, Siifan Hassan; born 1 January 1993) is an Ethiopian-born Dutch middle- and long-distance runner. She completed an unprecedented triple at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics winning gold medals in both the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres, ...

representing the Netherlands (4:04.96) and Dawit (4:05.30). The then 19-year-old represented Ethiopia in the

at the

2016 Rio Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...

, where she eliminated in the

heat 3 In thermodynamics, heat is defined as the form of energy crossing the boundary of a thermodynamic system by virtue of a temperature difference across the boundary. A thermodynamic system does not ''contain'' heat. Nevertheless, the term is al ...

, clocking 2:00.13. In 2017, she competed at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

in London and went out of the 1500 m event in the semi-finals. She fell after the first lap and posted the slowest time, slower by about 13 seconds than that ran in the heats. At the following World Championships in

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor, it is home to m ...

, Qatar, Tsegay won the bronze medal in the

event Event may refer to: Gatherings of people * Ceremony, an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion * Convention (meeting), a gathering of individuals engaged in some common interest * Event management, the organization of ev ...

with a personal best time of 3:54.38. Hassan was first in 3:51.95 and Kenya's Faith Kipyegon finished second in 3:54.22. The next year, she earned her first overall 1500 m World Indoor Tour

victory The term victory (from Latin ''victoria'') originally applied to warfare, and denotes success achieved in personal combat, after military operations in general or, by extension, in any competition. Success in a military campaign constitutes ...

2021: World indoor 1500 m record

On 9 February, Tsegay broke an indoor 1500 m world record at the

Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais The Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais (formerly Meeting Pas de Calais) also called Meeting International de Liévin (''International Meeting of Liévin'') is an annual indoor track and field competition which takes place in February in Liévi ...

Liévin Liévin (; pcd, Lévin; ) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. The inhabitants are called ''Liévinois''. Overview The town of Liévin is an old mining area of Pas-de-Calais. Near Lens, this town is of modest size bu ...

. The former mark of 3:55.17 set by her compatriot

Genzebe Dibaba Genzebe Dibaba Keneni ( Oromo: ''Ganzabee Dibaabaa Qananii''; Amharic: ገንዘቤ ዲባባ ቀነኒ; born 8 February 1991) is an Ethiopian middle- and long-distance runner. A 1500 metres 2016 Rio Olympics silver medalist, she won a gold med ...

in 2014 was lowered by Tsegay to 3 minutes 53.09 seconds. In June, she posted best time of the year for the

with her mark of 14m 13.32s to take a bronze at the event in 14:38.87 at the delayed

2020 Tokyo Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

. Hassan came first in 14:36.79, and Kenya's

Hellen Obiri Hellen Onsando Obiri (born 13 December 1989) is a Kenyan middle- and long-distance runner. She is a two-time Olympic 5000 metres silver medallist from the 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where she also placed fourth over the 10,000 metres. Sh ...

was second clocking 14:38.36.

2022: World 5000 m champion

In February 2022, she contested the

mile The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of distance; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 Engli ...

in Liévin, possibly with Dibaba's world record of 4:13.31 in her sights. Having fallen on the first lap Tsegay finished in 4:21.72, breaking, however, a 20-year-old meeting record. When chasing her own world indoor record over 1500 m at the

Copernicus Cup Copernicus Cup is an annual indoor track and field competition which takes place in February at the multi-purpose sports and entertainment Arena Toruń in Toruń, Poland. The meeting is currently an IAAF World Indoor Tour Meeting. In 2019, the com ...

Toruń )'' , image_skyline = , image_caption = , image_flag = POL Toruń flag.svg , image_shield = POL Toruń COA.svg , nickname = City of Angels, Gingerbread city, Copernicus Town , pushpin_map = Kuyavian-Pom ...

a few days later, she was only 1.68 seconds behind to secure also the second mark on the indoor all-time list. She took comfortable her second overall World Indoor Tour 1500 m

eight days later at the

Villa de Madrid Indoor Meeting Villa De Madrid Indoor Meeting is an annual indoor track and field competition which takes place in February in Madrid, Spain. The event was first held at the Gallur Municipality Sport Complex in 2016 and is currently an World Athletics Indoor To ...

, producing another record-breaking 3:57.38, the fifth-fastest result in turn on the world all-time indoor ranking. Also in March, Tsegay continued her record-breaking form, dominating in her specialist event at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade. She took her first global title, setting a championship record of 3m 57.19s, and winning by more than five seconds (~30 m). She led an Ethiopian medals sweep as

Axumawit Embaye Axumawit Alem Embaye (Amharic: አክሱማዊት አምባዬ; born 18 October 1994) is an Ethiopian middle-distance runner, who specialises in the 1500 metres. She is a two-time World Athletics Indoor Championships, World Indoor Championship si ...

and

Hirut Meshesha Hirut Meshesha (born 20 January 2001) is an Ethiopian middle-distance runner. She won the bronze medal in the women's 1500 metres at the 2022 World Indoor Championships in Belgrade. Meshesha took gold for the 800 metres at the 2019 African Game ...

finished second and third, respectively. It was the first time one country swept the medals in any discipline, and the seventh successive Ethiopian women's victory in the event, at the

World Athletics Indoor Championships The World Athletics Indoor Championships are a biennial indoor track and field competition served as the global championship for that version of the sport. Organised by the World Athletics, the competition was inaugurated as the ''World Indoor G ...

. Her best success of that year came in July at the

in Eugene, Oregon, where she won two medals including her first global outdoor title. First the 25-year-old took silver in the 1500 m event, finishing behind only Faith Kipyegon and ahead of

Laura Muir Laura Muir (born 9 May 1993) is a Scottish middle- and long-distance runner. She is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic silver medallist in the 1500 metres, having previously finished seventh in the event at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Muir won the bronze meda ...

. Five days later, she claimed the gold medal for the closely-run 5000 m race with a time of 14:46.29 ahead of Beatrice Chebet in 14:46.75 and compatriot Dawit Seyaum (14:47.36). Tsegay doubled up at the Diamond League final in

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich ...

in September, placing third in the 5 kilometres road race and sixth in the 1500 m event.

Achievements

International competitions

Circuit wins, and National championships

* Diamond League **

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

(1500 m): Stockholm Bauhaus-galan ( ) * World Indoor Tour (1500 m): 2020, 2022 * Ethiopian Championships **

: 2021

Personal bests

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tsegay, Gudaf 1997 births Living people Ethiopian female middle-distance runners Place of birth missing (living people) Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Ethiopia World Athletics Championships athletes for Ethiopia World Athletics Championships medalists Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Ethiopia Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) World Athletics Indoor Championships winners 20th-century Ethiopian women 21st-century Ethiopian women