Posted: September 7, 2005

Athletics: Ethiopian Team Announced For World Half-Marathon

From David Monti

© 2005 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

By Elshadai Negash with David Monti

ADDIS ABABA -- World Championships silver medallists Sileshi Sihine and Berhane Adere have been named in Ethiopia’s provisional team of twelve runners for the 13th IAAF World Half-Marathon Championships in Edmonton, Canada, scheduled for Saturday, October 1.

Sihine, who won two silver medals at the recent IAAF World Championships in Athletics in the 5000m and the 10,000m will be making his half-marathon debut. His longest race to date, a 41:38 for 15 km last November in the Netherlands, was equivalent to a 59:58 half-marathon. He must be considered a stong contender for a medal.

If experience is anything to go by, then Abebe Dinkessa could be expected to vie for a place on the podium as well. The 21-year old has made remarkable strides in his career since finishing 10th in last year’s race in New Delhi, including a 26:30.74 clocking for second place in the 10,000m at Hengelo to confirm his place in Ethiopia’s team for Helsinki where he finished a respectable 7th in the tactical final on his world championship debut.

Apart from the Helsinki duo, Solomon Tsige will compete for the third successive year and will be hoping to improve on his fifth place finish last year in New Delhi. He recently won the Ethiopian Half-Marathon Championship. Lishan Yegezu, Raja Assefa, and Nassir Abdissa all take part in their first championships.

The Ethiopian women’s team is surprisingly strong this year with seasoned road runners Berhane Adere and Derartu Tulu included in the squad to increase the country’s medal chances.

For Adere, it would be the perfect place to start her road season as she plans to move up to the marathon seriously in 2006. The 33-year old won the event comfortably in 2002 and finished second behind Paula Radcliffe the following year.

Meanwhile, Tulu is a former champion of the Lisbon Half Marathon and has already run nine full marathons in addition to her two Olympic and one world 10,000m titles.

Their inclusion means Ethiopia could line up with one of its strongest women's squads with Merima Hashim, Eyerusalem Kuma, and Adanech Zekiros also named to the squad. Hashim comfortably won the recent Ethiopian Championships in 1:11:52 to book her place in the team and moving up from the 10,000m track comes at the end of her first year after returning from a career-threatening ankle injury.

Here is the team in summary:

MEN - 
Solomon Tsige 
Lishan Yegezu 
Raja Assefa 
Sileshi Sihine 
Abebe Dinkessa 
Nassir Abdissa 

WOMEN - 
Merima Hashim 
Eyerusalem Kuma 
Adanech Zerkiros 
Derartu Tulu 
Berhane Adere 
Le’tay Negash