Atsedu Tsegay and Abera Kuma To Make Marathon Debuts in Dubai Next Month

Published by IAAF on December 19, 2013

Ethiopia’s super-talented Atsedu Tsegay and Abera Kuma will make their Marathon debuts at the 2014 Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon on 24 January, race organisers for the IAAF Gold Label Road Race announced on Thursday (19).

Tsegay is in great form at the moment and won the New Delhi Half Marathon on Sunday, just a few weeks after his triumph on home soil in the Great Ethiopian Run over 10km.

Competing against a very strong field in India, the 21 year-old Ethiopian clocked a hugely impressive 59:12, showing that he has fully recovered an ankle injury which kept him out of competition for almost a year.

Kuma, now 23, has proven track pedigree, twice qualifying for the IAAF World Championships. He was fifth in the 5000m in Daegu 2011 and he repeated that position in the 10000m in Moscow this summer.

Last year, Kuma also gave a strong indication of his ability on the road when he made his Half Marathon debut in the British city of Birmingham, what was then an IAAF Bronze Label Road Race, and he finished second at that high quality race in 1:00:19.

Now he moves up to the full Marathon distance and his track speed could prove to be tailor-made for a fast Marathon course like Dubai.

Two Ethiopian debutants have won the most recent editions of the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon in spectacular style: Ayele Abshero broke the course record with 2:04:23 in 2012 and Lelisa Desisa clocked 2:04:45 last year.