Yomif Kejelcha
Yomif Kejelcha in 2016
Personal information
Full nameYomif Kejelcha Atomsa
Born (1997-08-01) 1 August 1997
Oromia, Ethiopia
Height1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)[1]
Weight58 kg (128 lb)
Sport
CountryEthiopia
SportAthletics
EventLong-distance running
TeamAdidas
Coached byTim Rowberry
Medal record
Men's athletics
Representing  Ethiopia
World Championships
Silver medal – second place2019 Doha10,000 m
World Indoor Championships
Gold medal – first place2016 Portland3000 m
Gold medal – first place2018 Birmingham3000 m
World Road Running Championships
Silver medal – second place2023 Riga5K
Diamond League
First place20155000 m
World Junior Championships
Gold medal – first place2014 Eugene5000 m
African Junior Championships
Gold medal – first place2015 Addis Ababa5000 m
Youth Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place2014 Nanjing3000 m
World Youth Championships
Gold medal – first place2013 Donetsk3000 m
African Youth Games
Gold medal – first place2014 Gaborone3000 m

Yomif Kejelcha Atomsa (born 1 August 1997)[2] is an Ethiopian distance runner. He won the silver medal in the 10,000 metres at the 2019 World Athletics Championships and gold medals for the 3000 metres at the 2016 and 2018 World Indoor Championships. Kejelcha is the world indoor record holder for the mile with a time of 3:47.01, set on 3 March 2019 in Boston.

He was the 2013 World Youth 3000 m champion and 2014 World Junior 5000 m gold medallist.

Career

2013

Yomif Kejelcha made his international debut at the 2013 World Youth Championships in Donetsk, winning gold in the boys' 3000 metres with a time of 7:53.56.[3][4]

2014

In June 2014, he placed second over 3000 m in 7:36.28 at the Ostrava Golden Spike elite meeting, losing only to Kenya's Caleb Ndiku; he defeated 2008 Olympic medallist Nick Willis and former world champion Bernard Lagat.[3][5] Yomif won the 5000 metres at the World Junior Championships held in July in Eugene, Oregon that year, running 13:25.19. He also won gold in the 3000 m at the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing later that summer.[3] He finished 2014 as the world youth leader at both the 3000 and 5000 metres, and world junior leader at 3000 metres.[3]

2015

Yomif opened his 2015 season at the African Junior Championships in Addis Ababa, winning the 5000 m in a time of 14:31.03.[3][6] He made his IAAF Diamond League debut in Doha, placing fifth in the 3000 m. He then won a non-Diamond Race 5000 m event at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, improving his personal best to 13:10.54 and outkicking Edwin Soi and Galen Rupp.[7] Yomif scored his first Diamond League victory the following week at the Golden Gala in Rome, winning 5000 m in a world-leading 12:58.39 and breaking 13 minutes for the first time.[3][8] On 11 September 2015, Kejelcha competed in the event at the Brussels Diamond League, setting a new personal best and world-leading time of 12:53.98.[9]

2016

He started 2016 by winning the gold in the 3000 metres at the World Indoor Championships in Portland, Oregon. On 27 August, Kejelcha won the event at the Diamond League Paris meet in a new world U20 record of 7:28.19.

2018

At the European Athletics Outdoor Classic Permit Meeting in Sweden on 18 August 2018, Kejelcha won the 3000 m with a time of 7:28.00.[10] On 31 August, he placed third in the 5000 m at the Diamond League Brussels Final. He ran a personal best of 12:46.79, making him the seventh-fastest runner ever in the event.

2019

Kejelcha came within hundredth of a second of Hicham El Guerrouj's world indoor mile record on 9 February 2019 at the Millrose Games.[11] He ran an Ethiopian national record and a Millrose meet record of 3:48.46, making him second-fastest athlete of all time in the event.[12] On 3 March, Kejelcha broke the record with a time of 3:47.01, slicing 1.44 seconds off El Guerrouj's mark set in 1997. He came short of the 1500 metres world indoor record with his 3:31.25 split en route, making him the third-fastest indoor performer in history though. He was paced by Erik Sowinski, Christian Harrison, and Harun Abda.[13]

Kejelcha won the silver medal for the 10,000 metres at the 2019 World Athletics Championships held in Doha, Qatar, finished eighth in the event at the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics in 2021, and placed also eighth in the 5000 m at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon.[2]

2023

On March 19, 2023, he missed Berihu Aregawi's 5 kilometres world record of 12:49 by just one second in Lille, France to move up to second on the world all-time list.[14]

The 2023 outdoor track season started out well for Kejelcha, as he began with a narrow second place finish behind Mohamed Katir over 5000 metres at the Golden Gala Florence Diamond League meeting in 12:52.12, only losing to Katir by 0.03 seconds. On June 15, Kejelcha won the 5000 metres at the Bislett Games in Oslo in a time of 12:41.73, the fifth-fastest time in 5000 metre history. Finishing second to Kejelcha was Jacob Kiplimo, who lost by 0.003 seconds in one of the smallest margins in distance running history (12:41.725 to 12:41.728, making them the joint fifth fastest 5000 metre runners in history).[15] Kiplimo's second place finish is also notable for being the fastest non-winning time in 5000 metre history, surpassing Daniel Komen's second place finish of 12:44.90 to Haile Gebrselassie's 12:41.86 in 1997.

At the end of the 2023 outdoor season, on September 17th, Kejelcha competed in the 3000 Meter Run at the Diamond League Final (Prefontaine Classic) in Eugene, Oregon. Kejelcha finished second to Jakob Ingebrigtsen, in a time of 7:23.64, losing by only one hundredth of a second.[16]

At the time, this was the 4th fastest men's 3000m performance in history, behind Ingebrigtsen's 7:23.63, Hicham El Guerrouj's 7:23.09, and Daniel Komen's world record of 7:20.67.[17]

Achievements

Kejelcha at the 2019 Millrose Games

All information from World Athletics profile.[2]

International competitions

Representing  Ethiopia
YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventTime
2013 World Youth Championships Donetsk, Ukraine 1st 3000 m 7:53.56
2014 African Youth Games Gaborone, Botswana 1st 3000 m 7:56.51
World Junior Championships Eugene, OR, United States 1st 5000 m 13:25.19
Youth Olympic Games Nanjing, China 1st 3000 m 7:56.20
2015 African Junior Championships Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 1st 5000 m 14:31.03
World Championships Beijing, China 4th 5000 m 13:52.43
2016 World Indoor Championships Portland, OR, United States 1st 3000 m 7:57.21
2017 World Championships London, United Kingdom 4th 5000 m 13:33.51
2018 World Indoor Championships Birmingham, United Kingdom 1st 3000 m 8:14.41
2019 World Championships Doha, Qatar 2nd 10,000 m 26:49.34
2021 Olympic Games Tokyo, Japan 8th 10,000 m 27:52.03
2022 World Championships Eugene, OR, United States 8th 5000 m 13:12.09
2023 World Championships Budapest, Hungary 5th 5000 m 13:12.51

Personal bests

Road

Circuit win and titles

References

  1. ↑ "Yomif Kejelcha - Player Profile - Athletics".
  2. 1 2 3 "Yomif KEJELCHA – Athlete Profile". World Athletics. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Yomif Kejelcha at Tilastopaja (registration required)
  4. ↑ "Kejelcha restores Ethiopia's pride in the boys' 3000m in Donetsk". International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). 14 July 2013. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  5. ↑ "Yomif Kejelcha wint in Nanjing" (in Dutch). Hardloopnieuws.nl. 25 August 2014. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  6. ↑ Negash, Elshadai; Wagar, Bizuayehu (8 March 2015). "5000m double for hosts Ethiopia at African Junior Championships". IAAF. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  7. ↑ Goe, Ken (29 May 2015). "Teenager Yomif Kejelcha runs away with the Prefontaine Classic 5,000". Oregon Live LLC. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  8. ↑ Minshull, Phil (4 June 2015). "World leads for Ethiopia's Kejelcha and Aman in Rome – IAAF Diamond League". IAAF. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  9. ↑ Mulkeen, Jon (11 September 2015). "AFRICAN RECORDS FOR GHRIBI AND KIPYEGON IN BRUSSELS – IAAF DIAMOND LEAGUE". IAAF. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
  10. ↑ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "FASTEST 3000m since 2011 – Gothenburg GP 2018". YouTube.
  11. ↑ "IAAF profile: Hicham El Guerrouj". IAAF. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  12. ↑ "Results: 112th NYRR Millrose Games". NYRR Millrose Games. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  13. ↑ "Kejelcha breaks world indoor mile record with 3:47.01 in Boston". World Athletics. Retrieved 18 March 2023.
  14. ↑ Sampaolo, Diego (19 March 2023). "Walelegn wins again in Seoul, Obiri and Kiplimo conquer New York". World Athletics. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  15. ↑ "5000 Metres Men". World Athletics. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
  16. ↑ "Jakob Ingebrigtsen Leans To Win, Grant Fisher Breaks 3000m American Record - FloTrack". www.flotrack.org. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  17. ↑ "3000 Metres - men - senior - outdoor". worldathletics.org. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Yomif Kejelcha.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.