 Tsegaye at the 2016 Olympics | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | 25 November 1984 (1984-11-25) (age 41) |
| Height | 162 cm (5 ft 4 in)[1] |
| Weight | 52 kg (115 lb) |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Athletics |
Event(s) | 10,000 m,marathon |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Personalbest(s) | 10,000 m – 31:57 (2012) marathon – 2:19:41 (2016)[2] |
Tirfi Tsegaye Beyene (born 25 November 1984) is an Ethiopianlong-distance runner who competes inmarathon races. She has won theBerlin Marathon, theParis Marathon (in a course record), theTokyo Marathon (also in course-record time), and theDubai Marathon. Her personal best of 2:20:18 hours came as winner of the2014 Berlin Marathon.
Born inBekoji in Ethiopia'sOromia Region, she comes from a town renowned for producing world class runners such asKenenisa Bekele andTirunesh Dibaba.[3] In one of her first major races, Tirfi won thePorto Marathon in 2008 with a time of 2:35:31 hours.[4] She improved her best to 2:29:04 hours with a runner-up finish at the 2009Turin Marathon and then bettered that with a run of 2:28:16 hours for second at theShanghai Marathon.[5][6] She also made her debut over thehalf marathon at the2009 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships, where her run of 1:09:24 brought her sixth place and a team silver medal with Ethiopia.[7]
Tirfi was runner-up toAtsede Baysa at the 2010Paris Half Marathon,[8] then finished behind her again at theParis Marathon a month later, although Tirfi's time of 2:24:51 hours for third place was a significant personal best.[9] She again made the podium at theToronto Waterfront Marathon, setting another best of 2:22:44 hours and finishing second behindSharon Cherop.[10] She was also runner-up at the Shanghai Marathon for the second year running, beaten to the title byNailiya Yulamanova.[11]
She was invited to compete at the2011 Boston Marathon and she finished in eleventh in the high-profile race.[12] She came fifth at that year'sLille Half Marathon then was three seconds behindShanghai Marathon winnerHaile Lema Kebebush in December with her time of 2:24:11 hours (her third straight second-place finish at the race).[13] At theRoma-Ostia Half Marathon in February 2012 she ran a personal best of 1:07:42 hours for third place.[14] She was the pre-race favourite for the Paris Marathon and delivered on the status by winning the race in a course record and personal best time of 2:21:39 hours, over three minutes ahead of runner-upSultan Haydar.[15] Running alongside her training partner,Aberu Kebede, she was runner-up at the2012 Berlin Marathon with a personal best time of 2:21:19 hours.[16]
In January 2013, she won theDubai Marathon despite the heavy fog during the race, with a time of 2:23:23, 16 seconds ahead of runner-upEhitu Kiros.[17] She performed less well in her second race of the year, coming seventh at the Frankfurt Marathon in 2:26:57 hours.[18]
She won the2014 Berlin Marathon, held on 28 September 2014, in a personal best time of 2:20:18.[19]
