Ethiopian Meseret Defar is ready to debut in Amsterdam

Ethiopian Meseret Defar, the 2004 and 2012 Olympic 5000m champion, will make her marathon debut. Having won numerous global medals on the track across a span of 12 years, Defar is ready to prove herself on a new surface. “Now it's time for chapter two in my career: the road races,” said Defar, winner of four successive world indoor 3000m titles between 2004 and 2010 as well as the 2007 and 2013 outdoor world 5000m titles. “Chapter one was the ending of my track career, chapter two is starting on the road.” Defar has already produced some notable performances on the roads, including a 10km best of 31:14 and a half marathon PB (on a record-eligible course) of 1:07:25. She had originally intended to make her marathon debut in Tokyo earlier this year, but an injury prevented her from making it to the start line. “I have trained very well, but I have no idea what a marathon will do to me,” said the 34-year-old. “Training for the marathon is very difficult – like the marathon itself, I guess.” Tadelech Bekele, who won last year in 2:21:54 and improved to 2:21:40 to finish third in London six months ago, will defend her title. Bahrain’s Desi Jisa, who ran 2:24:05 on her marathon debut in Dubai earlier this year and finished seventh at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships Valencia 2018, is also expected to be a contender. The race record of 2:21:09 was set in 2012 by Ethiopia’s Meseret Hailu.

posted Saturday October 20th