Ethiopia bags gold and silver medals in the women’s marathon at the World Athletics Championships 2023 in Budapest, Hungary.
World Athletics Championships 2023: Women’s Marathon — Amane Beriso closely beat defending champion Gotytom Gebreslase in the gold medal battle
On the penultimate day of the World Athletics Championships 2023 (August 26), 31-year-old Amane Beriso produced her season-best performance to win the gold medal in the women’s marathon. She finished the race in 2 hours 24 minutes and 23 seconds. It was her first World Championships medal.
Another Ethiopian, Gotytom Gebreslase, started the marathon race to defend her title. Despite producing her season-best performance (2:24:34), Gebreslase finished in second place to bag the silver medal.
Morocco clinched the bronze medal in that race as Fatima Ezzahra Gardadi (2:25:17) won her first medal in the World Championships.
In the women’s marathon history at the World Athletics Championships, it was the only third time Ethiopia won a gold medal. Before Gotytom Gebreslase won the gold medal in the 2022 edition, Mare Dibaba became the first Ethiopian to win a World Athletics Championship gold medal in this event in the 2019 edition.
Meanwhile, it was the first time Ethiopia bagged two medals in the women’s marathon at the World Athletics Championships.
Another Ethiopian, Yalemzerf Yehualaw, finished fifth place after finishing the race in 2 hours 26 minutes and 13 seconds. The fourth Ethiopian Tsehay Gemechu didn’t finish the race.
World Athletics Championships 2023: Women’s Marathon (Final Status)
Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
1 | Amane Beriso | Ethiopia | 2:24:23 (SB) |
2 | Gotytom Gebreslase | Ethiopia | 2:24:34 (SB) |
3 | Fatima Ezzahra Gardadi | Morocco | 2:25:17 |
4 | Lonah Chemtai Salpeter | Israel | 2:25:38 (SB) |
5 | Yalemzerf Yehualaw | Ethiopia | 2:26:13 |
6 | Rosemary Wanjiru | Kenya | 2:26:42 |
7 | Selly Chepyego Kaptich | Kenya | 2:27:09 |
8 | Nazret Weldu | Eritrea | 2:27:23 (SB) |
9 | Lindsay Flanagan | United States | 2:27:47 |
10 | Dolshi Tesfu | Eritrea | 2:28:54 |
[NOTE: SB = Season Best]
What did Amane Beriso say?
After winning the gold medal, Amane Beriso claimed that they planned for all three medals in the women’s marathon but were also happy with the first two medals.
Beriso said, "The plan was to win the three medals today, but thank God we got the first two. I am very happy. I have been dreaming about this for the last couple of days. I wished and prayed for it and finally I achieved the dream today.”
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