 Atsede (centre) leading at the2012 Chicago Marathon | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1987-04-16)16 April 1987 (age 37) Dire Dawa, Ethiopia |
| Sport | |
| Country |  Ethiopia |
| Sport | Women'sathletics |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Personalbest(s) | Marathon: 2:22:03 (2012) Half marathon: 1:07:34 (2013) |
Atsede Bayisa Tesema, also known asAtsedeBayisa[1] (born 16 April 1987), is an Ethiopianlong-distance runner who specialises inroad running events. She has won theChicago Marathon,Boston Marathon andParis Marathon twice. She has also won at theXiamen International Marathon and theIstanbul Marathon.
She represented Ethiopia at the2007 IAAF World Road Running Championships (taking the team silver) and at the2009 World Championships in Athletics in the marathon race. She was the half marathon silver medallist at the2007 All-Africa Games.
She started her international career with performances at theTokyo Women's Marathon andNagano Marathon in 2006. She ran in the 2007Rotterdam Marathon and clocked a time of 2:33:54 for fourth place.[2] Her first major event was2007 All-Africa Games, where she took the half marathon silver medal behindSouad Aït Salem. A few months later she attended the2007 IAAF World Road Running Championships and finished in eleventh, helping the Ethiopian women to the team silver medal.[3] Following this, she went on to win at theIstanbul Marathon, recording a new personal best of 2:29:05. She did not make significant progression in 2008, with fifth-place finishes at both theRome City Marathon andToronto Marathon being the highlights of her year.[4]
In 2009, she started with a ninth-place finish at theDubai Marathon with a time of 2:29:13.[5] Victory in a personal best time of 2:24:42 at theParis Marathon marked a new high for Baysa, having won her firstIAAF Gold Label Road Race.[6] Baysa was selected for thewomen's marathon at the2009 World Championships in Athletics, but she did not match her previous form and finished in 27th place. She went on to take seventh-place finish in 2:32:05 at theFrankfurt Marathon in October.[7]
Baysa made a strong start to 2010 by becoming the first foreign athlete to win the women's race at theXiamen International Marathon. She led the race uncontested and finished in 2:28:53.[8] Despite cold conditions, she also won theParis Half Marathon in March, recording a time of 1:11:05.[9] She set her eyes on defending her Paris Marathon title in April and her front running tactics succeeded in record time: finishing in first place in 2:22:04, she beatMarleen Renders' course record which had stood since 2002 and knocked over two minutes off her previous best.[10] She ran at the2010 Chicago Marathon in October and started well by setting a fast pace from the beginning, establishing a significant lead by the halfway point, and though it cost her at the end, she won with a time of 2:23:40, beating her closest challenger,Desiree Davila, by two minutes, forty seconds.[11] She entered theDelhi Half Marathon in November but managed only fifth place over the half distance.[12]
She opened her 2011 at theDubai Marathon, but finished in fifth place some three minutes behind the winnerAselefech Mergia.[13] Another fifth came at the2011 London Marathon, where she was one place behind her compatriotBezunesh Bekele.[14] She ran in two French races in October: she was the winner of the half marathon race at theReims à Toutes Jambes and came second toLydia Cheromei at theMarseille-Cassis Internationale.[15][16]
She ran a time of 2:23:13 hours at the 2012Dubai Marathon, which was only worth eighth place in a fast women's race.[17] She won theTarsus Half Marathon in a course record of 69:39 minutes in March before going on to place ninth at the2012 London Marathon. While running at the2012 Chicago Marathon, she drew on her experience of 2010 and did not falter in the second half of the race, racing away in the final section to beatRita Jeptoo for what at the time was her first Chicago women's title (the 2010 title was awarded on 6 August 2015, following an IAAF review).[18] She ended the year with a dominant performance at theMontferland Run, winning unchallenged after breaking away from the pack in the first 5 km of the race.[19]
She won the 2016 Boston Marathon, but gaveBobbi Gibb her trophy; Gibb said in 2017 she would go to Baysa’s native Ethiopia and return it to her.[20]
| Event | Time (h:m:s) | Venue | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 kilometres | 32:10 | New Delhi, India | 21 November 2010 |
| 20 kilometres | 1:05:47 | Udine, Italy | 14 October 2007 |
| Half marathon | 1:07:34 | Barcelona, Spain | 17 February 2013 |
| Marathon | 2:22:03 | Chicago, United States | 7 October 2012 |
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Representing Ethiopia | |||||
| 2007 | All-Africa Games | Algiers, Algeria | 2nd | Half marathon | |
| World Road Running Championships | Udine, Italy | 11th | Half marathon | Individual | |
| 2nd | Half marathon | Team | |||
| 2009 | World Championships | Berlin, Germany | 27th | Marathon | 2:36:04 |
