Ethiopian long distance runner Letesenbet Gidey is one of the most successful athletes of the modern era, considering the incredible feats she has achieved at the age of 24.
However, despite her recent successes, very little is known about the runner who is part of the NN Running team alongside Geoffrey Kamworor.
Teamkenya looks at Gidey’s profile ahead of her debut at the 2022 Valencia Marathon scheduled to take place on December 4.
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Letesenbet was born on March 20, 1998 in Endameskel, a locality in the conflict torn region of Tigray.
Similar to most brilliant East African runners like Eliud Kipchoge who used to sell milk to make ends meet, Letesenbet comes from a humble background.
Her parents practiced agriculture to provide for her alongside their other three children - She is the youngest in the family.
Interestingly, Letesenbet did not enjoy running during her childhood years because she was once suspended from school at the age of 13 for declining to engage in Physical Education (PE) lessons.
The runner who weighs 50kg was only allowed to resume learning after accepting to participate in the lessons.
The decision proved to be the best one since she went on to register victories in both the 20,000m and 3,000m steeplechase races at the Ethiopian Schools Championships staged in Shashamane in 2012.
Gidey made her international debut in 2015 at the World Cross Country Championships where she bagged the junior title.
At the 2017 edition, she defended her title before settling for second-place position two years later in her maiden senior appearance.
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In 2019, Gidey narrowly missed a gold medal at the World Athletics Championship when she finished second behind Dutch runner Sifan Hassan in the 10,000m.
She clocked a personal best time of 30:21.23 to pick up a silver medal ahead of the late Agnes Tirop of Kenya.
Letesenbet set her first world record in November that year when she ran a tactical race to win the 15km race in 44.20, in the process shattering Joyciline Jepkosgei’s previous mark of 45.37 set two years earlier at Prague Half Marathon in the Czech Republic.
On October 7, 2020 Gidey broke the 12-year-old 5,000m world record set by compatriot Tirunesh Dibaba when she produced a monster performance to win the race in 14:06.62 at the NN Valencia World Record Day in Spain.
Less than a year later, she clocked 29:01.03 to break the 10,000m world record during the Ethiopian Olympic trials. By setting a new mark in the discipline, Letesenbet became the first woman to hold two world records concurrently.
Her fourth world record came on October 24, 2021. The one-time Olympic bronze medalist smashed Ruth Chepngetich’s half marathon world record of 1:04.02 when she clocked 1:02.52 to win the EDP Valencia Half Marathon title.
In Valencia, Gidey will be seeking to add the fifth world record in her impressive career when she makes full marathon debut.
The current full marathon world record is held by Kenya’s Brigid Kosgei. The 28-year-old destroyed the field to cross the finishing line in 2:14.04 at the Chicago Marathon in October 2019.
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