| No global championships, but exciting 2010 awaits |
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24 December 2009 - With no world athletics championship or the Olympics in 2010, the season may sound a bit boring for the athletics fan. But there are many more international competitions in 2010 to excite even the least avid of Ethiopian athletics fans. Indoor track fans will be treated to the return of the IAAF World Indoor Championships which will be held at the Aspire Dome in Doha, Qatar. Ethiopia will have four defending champions traveling to the Qatari capital with Meseret Defar (women’s 3000m), Gelete Burka (women’s 1500m), Derese Mekonnen (men’s 1500m), and Tariku Bekele (men’s 3000m). But there will be many other runners vying for a place in Ethiopia’s indoor team including Kenenisa Bekele and Tirunesh Dibaba who are the Olympic 5000m and 10000m men’s and women’s double winners respectively. The world cross country championships in March could see defending junior champions Genzebe Dibaba and Abera Kuma move up to senior levels this year. Returning to cross country this season are Dibaba and Bekele who have both lined up races in Edinburgh ahead of what is expected to be a return to the annual event after missing 2009 due to injury. Gebregziabher Gebremariam took full advantage of Bekele’s absence last year to win the men’s title and has justified his billing with four cross country victories in the European circuit. Barring injury or loss of form, Gebremariam should return for a title defense. Younger runners who are hoping to make a statement of their track credentials will have the world junior championships in Canada to stake their claim. One of these runners could be 2000m steeplechaser Korahubish Itea, who won Ethiopia’s solitary world youth gold in Bressanone, Italy in July this year and broke into the Ethiopian senior squad for the world championships in Berlin, Germany. On a continental level, 2010 sees the return of the biennial African athletics championships as Nairobi, Kenya hosts Africa’s largest athletics event. Any Ethiopian winners from the event will then represent Africa in the IAAF World Cup in Split, Croatia, the team event among runners of the six continental confederations. And in October next year, Ethiopian athletes will return to the roads for the IAAF World Road Running Championships in Nanning, China in hopes of improving on the single individual medal return from this year’s event in Birmingham, UK. Apart from the major championships, Ethiopian athletes will also be chasing fast times in major road races around the world. The Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon in January will see distance running legend Haile Gebrselassie making another attempt at the world marathon record. Other top marathons in the spring include London, Boston, Rotterdam, and Paris- venues where Ethiopian athletes have done well over the last few years. Ethiopians are also expected to feature prominently in various half marathon and 10km road races around the world with the likes of Dire Tune, Deriba Merga, Asselefech Mergia, Tilahun Regassa, and Tsegaye Kebede hoping to make a serious attempt at world records. The Ras Al Khmiah Half Marathon in UAE in February, World Best 10km in Puerto Rico, and the Zayed Half Marathon in the UAE will offer the chance for top Ethiopians to achieve their record dreams. |
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