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Communiqué World Athletics

When Ababel Yeshaneh crossed the finish line at the Ras Al-Khaimah Half Marathon on Friday morning (21) in a world record of 1:04:31, she made a piece of athletics history.

The 28-year-old became the first Ethiopian woman to set an outright world record in a road event.

Ethiopian women have broken numerous world records on the track, indoors and outdoors, and Netsanet Gudeta set a women-only world record when winning at the 2018 World Half Marathon Championships.

But Yeshaneh is the first to jump to the top of a world all-time list in a record-eligible road event.

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Her performance heralds something of a breakthrough for the East African nation.

Ethiopia has long been a powerhouse in distance running, but Kenya has generally led the way on the roads with the likes of Mary Keitany, Florence Kiplagat, Peres Jepchirchir and Joyciline Jepkosgei all having improved the half marathon world record in the past decade.

Brigid Kosgei, meanwhile, recently broke the long-standing marathon world record with her 2:14:04 run in Chicago.

Ethiopia has now produced the fastest half marathon women in history – in both mixed races and women-only events. But it has been a long road of gradual improvements to get to this point.

At the end of the last millennium, the Ethiopian record belonged to Derartu Tulu at 1:08:26, almost two minutes shy of the world record at that time.

Berhane Adere improved it to 1:08:17 in 2001, but it was still shy of breaking into the top 10 on the world all-time list.

It wasn’t until 2009 that an Ethiopian woman broke 68 minutes – in fact, three managed it within the same race as Dire Tune (1:07:18), Asselefech Mergia (1:07:48) and Abebu Gelan (1:07:57) all set PBs at the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon.

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The national record underwent several revisions over the next decade, but so too did the world record.

As Ethiopia’s best started to close in on 67 minutes, Kenya’s leading women were breaking 66. And by the time Ethiopia joined the sub-66-minute club in 2018, courtesy of Yeshaneh, the world record had been reduced to 1:04:51.

It has been a similar story in the marathon.

Although there haven’t been as many world records at that distance over the past two decades, Ethiopia has trailed Kenya on the world all-time list and in terms of depth.

But they’re improving in that regard too and Ethiopia now has 22 women with sub-2:20 PBs – more than any other nation.

Given the rising standard of distance running worldwide, it may not be long before Yeshaneh’s world record is broken again.

But for now she can revel in the fact that she is the fastest woman in history over 13.1 miles.

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Photo : Giancarlo Colombo

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