Tamirat Tola
Tamirat Tola Abera (born 11 August 1991) is an Ethiopian world champion long-distance runner who competes in track, road and cross country events. He won the bronze medal in the 10,000 metres at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Tamirat competed in the marathon at the 2017 and 2022 World Athletics Championships, earning silver and gold respectively, setting a championship record at the latter in the process. He finished third at the 2021 Tokyo and 2023 London Marathon.
Personal information | |
---|---|
Full name | Tamirat Tola Abera |
Nationality | Ethiopian |
Born | 11 August 1991 |
Sport | |
Country | Ethiopia |
Sport | Athletics |
Event(s) | Long-distance running |
Achievements and titles | |
Personal best(s) | |
Medal record |
Career
Tamirat Tola made his half marathon debut in Agadir in 2013, and then quickly improved to win the České Budějovice Half Marathon in a time of 1:02:04 hours. He improved his best further to 1:01:27 at the Ústí nad Labem Half Marathon,[1] then made a fast marathon debut with a time of 2:06:17 hours for fourth at the high-profile Dubai Marathon.[2]
Tamirat won the Ethiopian national title in cross country in 2015 which led to his selection for the 2015 IAAF World Cross Country Championships.[3] Making his international debut, he took sixth place in the senior race which helped the Ethiopians narrowly take the team title on equal points with Kenya (Muktar Edris, Hagos Gebrhiwet and Atsedu Tsegay were the other point-scoring team members).[4] He had mixed fortunes in the rest of the season: he failed to finish the 2015 Berlin Marathon but set bests of 60:08 minutes for the half marathon and 27:22.64 minutes for the 10,000 metres.[1]
Several good performances on the circuit in late 2015/early 2016 led to wins at the Cross Internacional de Itálica, Cross International de la Constitución, Boclassic and Great Ethiopian Run.[1] He was part of the national team setup in 2016, this time for the 2016 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships. He was again an essential team member with his fifth-place finish in a time of 60:06 minutes, pushing Ethiopia (through Abayneh Ayele, Tamirat, and Mule Wasihun) to the team silver medals.[4]
In 2017, Tamirat participated in the World Championships held in London, earning the silver medal in the marathon with a time of 2:09:49.[5][6]
In 2022, he went one better in the marathon at the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, winning gold and setting a championship record of 2:05:36 in the process.[7]
Achievements
International competitions
Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Representing Ethiopia | |||||
2015 | World Cross Country Championships | Guiyang, China | 6th | Senior race | 35:33 |
1st | Team | 20 pts | |||
2016 | World Half Marathon Championships | Cardiff, United Kingdom | 5th | Half marathon | 1:00:06 |
2nd | Team | 3:01:16 | |||
Olympic Games | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | 3rd | 10,000 m | 27:06.26 | |
2017 | World Championships | London, United Kingdom | 2nd | Marathon | 2:09:49 |
2022 | World Championships | Eugene, OR, United States | 1st | Marathon | 2:05:36 CR |
2023 | World Championships | Budapest, Hungary | – | Marathon | DNF |
World Marathon Majors | |||||
2015 | Berlin Marathon | Berlin, Germany | – | Marathon | DNF |
2018 | Boston Marathon | Boston, MA, United States | – | Marathon | DNF |
New York City Marathon | New York, NY, United States | 4th | Marathon | 2:08:30 | |
2019 | London Marathon | London, United Kingdom | 6th | Marathon | 2:06:57 |
New York City Marathon | New York, NY, United States | 4th | Marathon | 2:09:20 | |
2020 | London Marathon | London, United Kingdom | 6th | Marathon | 2:06:41 |
2022 | Tokyo Marathon | Tokyo, Japan | 3rd | Marathon | 2:04:14 |
2023 | London Marathon | London, United Kingdom | 3rd | Marathon | 2:04:59 |
Circuit wins
- 2013: Hawassa Half Marathon (ETH), České Budějovice Half Marathon
- 2015: BOclassic
- 2017: Dubai Marathon, Prague Half Marathon
- 2018: BOclassic
- 2019: Bogotá Half Marathon
- 2021: Amsterdam Marathon
- 2022: Trento Half Marathon (ITA)
Personal bests
- 10,000 metres – 26:57.33 (Eugene, OR2016)
- 10 kilometres – 28:12 (Bolzano 2018)
- Half marathon – 59:37 (Prague 2017)
- Marathon – 2:03:39 (Amsterdam 2021)
References
- Tamrat Tola. Association of Road Racing Statisticians. Retrieved on 2016-03-29.
- Wenig, Jörg (2014-01-24). Teenager Mekonnen's stunning marathon debut win in Dubai. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-03-29.
- Gebrhiwet and Yalew lead Ethiopia's World Cross team for Guiyang. IAAF (2015-03-18). Retrieved on 2016-03-29.
- Tamirat Tola. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-03-29.
- "Marathon Men − Final − Results" (PDF). IAAF. Retrieved 9 Aug 2017.
- "World Championships 2017: Callum Hawkins fourth as Geoffrey Kirui wins marathon". bbc.com. 6 August 2017. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
- Draper, Kevin (2022-07-17). "A Strategic Marathon Ends with a World Championships Record". The New York Times. ISSN 1553-8095. Retrieved 2022-07-17.