 Worknesh Mesele in 2023 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Worknesh Musele Handeno |
| Nationality | Ethiopian |
| Born | 10 June 2001 Shebedino, Sidama Region, Ethiopia |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Track and Field |
| Event(s) | 400m, 800m, 1500m |
Worknesh Musele Handeno (born 10 June 2001) is an Ethiopian athlete who has won Ethiopian national championship titles over 400 metres and 800 metres.
Musele ran the 11th fastest time in the world in 2021 in the women’s 800m when she completed the Ethiopian Olympic Trial. She had previously competed at the 2019 African Games in Kabat in the 400m and the 4x400m relay. [1] [2]
She ran a personal best 1:58:71 in the 800m at the Ethiopian Olympic trial to finish third behind Werkwuha Getachew and Habitam Alemu in June 2021 to secure her place at the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Her previous personal best had been 2:02:20. [3] [4] She was named in the Ethiopian squad for the games, [5] however she did not compete. [6] On 30 June, 2021 she won the 800m at the Irena Szewińska Memorial meeting in Bydgoszcz on the 2021 World Athletics Continental Tour, beating compatriot Diribe Welteji by .07 seconds. [7]
In March 2022 Mesele won her second national title winning the 800m in Hawassa. She finished fourth in the 2022 African Championships in Athletics – Women's 800 metres race. [8]
In 2023, she participated in the World Championships in Budapest, and reached the semi finals of the 800 metres. [9]
At the 2024 Olympics, she set two new personal bests in the qualifying rounds of the 800 m, running 1:58.07 and then 1:58.06. [10] She went on to place sixth in the final. [11]
The 800 metres, or meters, is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since the first modern games in 1896. During the winter track season the event is usually run by completing four laps of an indoor 200-metre track.
Letitia Alma Vriesde is a former track and field athlete from Suriname, who specialised in the 800 metres but was also successful over 1500 metres. She is the first sportsperson from Suriname to compete at five Olympic Games. She won a silver medal at the 1995 World Championships and a bronze medal at the 2001 World Championships. Vriesde holds the South American records for the 800 metres, 1000 metres and 1500 metres and also for the 3000 metres (indoors).
Mokgadi Caster Semenya OIB is a South African middle-distance runner and winner of two Olympic gold medals and three World Championships in the women's 800 metres. She first won gold at the World Championships in 2009 and went on to win at the 2016 Olympics and the 2017 World Championships, where she also won a bronze medal in the 1500 metres. After the doping disqualification of Mariya Savinova, she was also awarded gold medals for the 2011 World Championships and the 2012 Olympics.
Jessica Warner-Judd is an English middle- and long-distance runner. She won two individual medals in the Under-20 and U23 races at the European Cross Country Championships and a gold medal for the 5000 metres at the 2019 Universiade.
Lynsey Sharp is a former Scottish track and field athlete who competed in the 800 metres. She is the 2012 European champion and represented Great Britain at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. She won a silver medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Her personal best is 1:57.69, the seventh fastest time over 800m by a British woman, set in the final of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Laura Muir is a Scottish middle- and long-distance runner. She is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic silver medallist in the 1500 metres, having previously finished seventh in the event at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Muir won the bronze medal at the 2022 World Championships, and has three other top five placings in 1500 m finals at the World Athletics Championships, finishing fifth in 2015, fourth in 2017 and fifth in 2019. She is a two-time European 1500 m champion from 2018 and 2022 as well as the 2022 Commonwealth Games 1500 m champion and 800 metres bronze medallist.
Habitam Alemu Bayih is an Ethiopian middle-distance runner specialising in the 800 metres.
Kate Grace is an American middle-distance runner. A multiple All-American runner for Yale University, she turned professional in 2011. Grace competed for the United States at the 2016 Summer Olympics, making it to the final of the 800 metres.
Halimah Nakaayi is a Ugandan middle-distance runner who specialises in the 800 metres. She is the 2019 World Champion at the event and won the bronze medal at the 2022 World Indoor Championships. Nakaayi is the current Ugandan record holder for the 800 m both outdoors and indoors, and also for the 1000 metres.
Athing Mu is an American middle-distance runner. She is the youngest woman in history to hold Olympic and world titles in an individual track and field event. At the age of 19, Mu won the gold medal in the 800 meters at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, breaking a national record set by Ajeé Wilson in 2017, and a continental under-20 record. She took a second gold as part of the women's 4 × 400 m relay. She was the 800 m 2022 World champion, becoming the first American woman to win the world championship title over the distance.
Diribe Welteji Kejelcha is an Ethiopian middle-distance runner. She won the silver medal in the 1500 metres at the 2023 World Championships and placed fourth in the 800 metres at the 2022 World Championships.
Gabriela Gajanová is a Slovak middle-distance runner specialising in the 800 metres. Gajanová won a bronze medal at the 2017 European U20 Championships. She won silver in the 800 metres at the 2024 European Athletics Championships in Rome, Italy.
Keely Nicole Hodgkinson is an English middle-distance runner. She won the gold medal in the 800 metres at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Freweyni Hailu is an Ethiopian middle-distance runner. She won the gold medal at the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships over 1500 metres.
Werkwuha Getachew is an Ethiopian athlete who specialises in the 3000 metres steeplechase. She won the silver medal in the event at the 2022 World Championships and a gold at the 2022 African Championships.
Emmanuel Wanyonyi is a Kenyan middle-distance runner specializing in the 800 metres, who won the gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in this event. With his personal best of 1:41.11 set at the 2024 Lausanne Diamond League, Wanyonyi and Wilson Kipketer are tied for second place in the all-time 800 meter list, behind only Wanyonyi's compatriot David Rudisha, who holds the world record. Wanyonyi also briefly held the world record in the road mile, with a time of 3:54.56, from April 2024 to September 2024.
Claudia Hollingsworth is an Australian athlete. In 2022, she became the Oceanic champion in the 1500 metres at 17 years old. In 2024, she became Australian champion and national under-20 record holder over 800 metres. At Paris 2024, she made her Olympic debut in the women’s 800m.
Nelly Chepchirchir is a Kenyan track and field athlete.
Jazz Shukla is a Canadian track and field athlete who competes over 800 metres.
Tsige Duguma is an Ethiopian track and field athlete who won gold at the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships over 800 metres. She is also an Ethiopian national champion over 400 metres.
