Meseret Mengistu Biru (born 6 March 1990) is an Ethiopian female long-distance runner who competes mainly in

road running Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road. This differs from track and field on a regular track and cross country running over natural terrain. These events are usually classified as long-distance ...

events. She holds a personal best of 2:23:26 hours for the marathon. She represented Ethiopia at the

IAAF World Half Marathon Championships The World Athletics Half Marathon Championships is a biennial international half marathon competition organised by World Athletics. The competition was launched as the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in 1992 and held annually until 2010. It ...

in 2008 and 2010, winning a team silver medal at the latter edition. She was the 2015 winner of the

Paris Marathon The Paris Marathon (french: Marathon de Paris) is an annual marathon hosted by the city of Paris, France. It is the marathon with the second-most finishers in the world, behind the New York City Marathon. The marathon begins along the Champs ...

, improving her best by over six minutes in the process. She had her second win over the distance at the 2016

Beijing Marathon The Beijing Marathon () is an annual marathon race held around October in Beijing, People's Republic of China, since 1981. The race begins at Tiananmen Square and finishes in Celebration Square in Olympic Green. The full marathon is the onl ...

Career

Born in

Sendafa Sendafa ( Oromo: ''Sandafaa'') is a town and separate woreda in Oromia Region, Ethiopia. Its name is taken from the Oromo name for a kind of thick, jointed grass or reed which grows in swampy areas. Located in the Oromia Special Zone Surroundin ...

in Ethiopia's

Oromia Region Oromia (Amharic: ) ( om, Oromiyaa) is a regional state in Ethiopia and the homeland of the Oromo people. The capital of Oromia is Addis Ababa. It is bordered by the Somali Region to the east; the Amhara Region, the Afar Region and the Benis ...

, Meseret began her road running career in 2008. She was runner-up at the

Marseille-Cassis Classique Internationale The Marseille-Cassis Classique Internationale is an annual half marathon which follows a course from Marseille to Cassis in France during the last weekend in October. It has the silver label of the IAAF Road Race Label Events and is thus among the ...

that year and returned to win a year after. She began to establish herself as an elite runner in the 2009 season with wins at the Crazy 8s 8K Run and Wharf to Wharf Race and a runner-up finish at the

Peachtree Road Race The Peachtree Road Race (branded AJC Peachtree Road Race for sponsorship reasons) is an American 10-kilometer run held annually in Atlanta. After being held on Independence Day from 1970 to 2019, the race was cancelled because of the COVID pand ...

. The half marathon proved to be her best event, as she came third at the

Virginia Beach Half Marathon The Rock 'n' Roll Virginia Beach Half Marathon was an annual half marathon road running event which took place in Virginia Beach, United States, on the first Sunday of September between the years of 2001 and 2021. Owned and organized by the IRONM ...

before winning the

Reims Half Marathon Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded by ...

in a best of 69:45 minutes. Still a

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959 * ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009 * ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010 * ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019 Films * ''Junior'' (1994 ...

that year, she also ran at the

2009 IAAF World Cross Country Championships 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...

and placed ninth in the junior race.Meseret Mengistu Biru
Association of Road Racing Statisticians. Retrieved on 2016-09-17. She made her marathon debut at the

Rotterdam Marathon The Rotterdam Marathon, currently branded NN Rotterdam Marathon, is an annual marathon that has been held in Rotterdam, Netherlands since 1981. It has been held in April every year since the third edition in 1984 and attracts many top athletes ...

in 2010 and recorded a time of 2:34:07 hours for eighth. She was selected for the Ethiopian squad for the

2010 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships The 2010 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships was held in Nanning, China on 16 October 2010. The competition took place on the city streets, beginning and ending at Wuxiang Square, with a total prize purse of US$245,000 at stake. The Kenyan ...

and her sixth place finish helped her team mates Dire Tune and

Feyse Tadese Feyse Tadese Boru (born 19 November 1988) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who competes in the half marathon. Career She made her marathon debut at the 2009 Venice Marathon and finished in tenth place with a time of 2:36:57. Feyse gained h ...

to the silver medals. After this point she began to focus more on professional marathon racing. Meseret set a new best of 2:30:45 to place second at the

Florence Marathon The Florence Marathon ( it, Maratona di Firenze) is an annual full-length marathon race held in late November in Florence, Italy, since 1984. History Established in 1984, the international competition has significantly grown in size since its in ...

at the end of 2010, though her next outing at the

Rome City Marathon The Rome Marathon is an annual marathon competition hosted by the city of Rome, Italy. History The competition has also doubled as the Italian Marathon championships on two occasions; in 1983 and 1986. The race date was shifted from the ...

(2:33:40 for eighth) was less successful. She did not compete between May 2011 and March 2013 but returned in good form with a win at the Two Oceans Half Marathon a new best came two weeks later at the

Pyongyang Marathon Pyongyang Marathon, also known as Mangyongdae Prize International Marathon, is an annual marathon race contested each April in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. It is categorised as an IAAF Bronze Label Road Race. The marathon was held for t ...

, at which she was the third-placer with 2:29:22 hours. She had a busy schedule that year with four further marathons: a wins at the Bali Marathon and Siberian International Marathon, fourth at the Gauteng Marathon, and eighth at the

Singapore Marathon The Singapore Marathon is an annual international marathon race which is held on the first Sunday of December in the city of Singapore. It is a World Athletics Gold Label Road Race. History The first competitive marathon in Singapore was held o ...

. She was based in South Africa for 2014 and accumulated three wins, covering the Cape Town Marathon,

Soweto Marathon Soweto () is a Township (South Africa), township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western T ...

and the Unite4Mandela Race. She came seventh at the

Frankfurt Marathon The Frankfurt Marathon (official name as of 2016: Mainova Frankfurt Marathon, until 2015: BMW Frankfurt Marathon, until 2010: Commerzbank Frankfurt Marathon) is a marathon which has taken place every year in Frankfurt am Main since its inception i ...

in 2015.

Personal bests

* 5000 metres – 16:12.67 min (2009) *

10K run 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

– 32:26 min (2009) *

Half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish or shortcut ...

– 69:31 min (2010) * Marathon – 2:23:26 (2015) All information from All-Athletics profileMeseret Mengistu
All-Athletics. Retrieved on 2016-09-17.

International competitions

Road race wins

: 2016 * Cape Town Marathon: 2014 *

: 2014 *

: 2013 * Two Oceans Half Marathon: 2013 *

: 2009 *

: 2009

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Meseret Mengistu Living people 1990 births Sportspeople from Oromia Region Ethiopian female long-distance runners Ethiopian female marathon runners Paris Marathon female winners 21st-century Ethiopian women