Yomif Kejelcha

Last updated

Yomif Kejelcha
Yomif Kejelcha 2023 (cropped).jpg
Yomif Kejelcha in 2023
Personal information
Full nameYomif Kejelcha Atomsa
Born (1997-08-01) 1 August 1997 (age 27)
Elfata, Oromia, Ethiopia
Height1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) [1]
Weight58 kg (128 lb)
Sport
Country Ethiopia
Sport Athletics
Event Long-distance running
Team Adidas
Coached byTim Rowberry
Achievements and titles
Personal bests
Updated on 2024

Yomif Kejelcha Atomsa (born 1 August 1997) [2] is an Ethiopian distance runner. He holds the current world record in the short track mile (3:47.01 set in 2019), and the half marathon (57:30 set in 2024, pending ratification).

Contents

Kejelcha 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. 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]

2024

On 30 May, Kejelcha contested the 5000 metres at the Oslo Diamond League, finishing 2nd to compatriot Hagos Gebrhiwet. Gebrhiwet ran 12:36.73 to become the second fastest man in history at the 5000 metre distance, behind Joshua Cheptegei's world record of 12:35.36, while Kejelcha finished in a time of 12:38.95, becoming the fourth fastest 5000 metre runner in history, behind Kenenisa Bekele (12:37.35), Gebrhiwet, and Cheptegei. [18]

After exchanging leads with his teammates for most of the race, Kejelcha finished sixth in the 2024 Olympic 10,000 m. [19]

On 27 October, in the 2024 Valencia Half Marathon, Kejelcha set a new half marathon world record of 57:30, breaking Jacob Kiplimo's former half marathon world record of 57:31 by one second. [20]

Achievements

Kejelcha at the 2019 Millrose Games 2019 Millrose Games (33185802758).jpg
Kejelcha at the 2019 Millrose Games

All information from World Athletics profile. [2]

International competitions

Representing Flag of Ethiopia.svg  Ethiopia
YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventTime
2013 World Youth Championships Donetsk, Ukraine1st3000 m 7:53.56
2014 African Youth Games Gaborone, Botswana1st3000 m 7:56.51
World Junior Championships Eugene, OR, United States1st5000 m 13:25.19
Youth Olympic Games Nanjing, China1st3000 m 7:56.20
2015 African Junior Championships Addis Ababa, Ethiopia1st5000 m 14:31.03
World Championships Beijing, China4th5000 m 13:52.43
2016 World Indoor Championships Portland, OR, United States1st3000 m 7:57.21
2017 World Championships London, United Kingdom4th5000 m 13:33.51
2018 World Indoor Championships Birmingham, United Kingdom1st3000 m 8:14.41
2019 World Championships Doha, Qatar2nd10,000 m 26:49.34
2021 Olympic Games Tokyo, Japan8th10,000 m 27:52.03
2022 World Championships Eugene, OR, United States8th5000 m 13:12.09
2023 World Championships Budapest, Hungary 5th5000 m 13:12.51
2024 Olympic Games Paris, France6th10,000 m26:44.02

Personal bests

CategoryEventTimeVenueDateNotes
Outdoor Track 1500 m 3:32.37 Nerja 14 June 2024 [22]
Mile 3:58.24 Stanford 30 June 2019 [23]
3000 m 7:23.64 Eugene 17 September 20235th all time
5000 m 12:38.95 Oslo 30 May 20244th all time
10,000 m 26:31.01 Nerja 14 June 20247th all time
Indoor Track 1000 m 2:18.34 Seattle 12 January 2019
1500 m 3:31.25+ Boston 3 March 2019En route to mile
Mile 3:47.01 World record
2000 m 4:57.74 Metz 28 February 2014 WU20B
3000 m 7:38.67 Karlsruhe 3 February 2018
Road 5 km 12:50 Lille 19 March 20232nd all time
10 km 26:37 Laredo 16 March 20243rd all time
Half marathon 57:30 Valencia 27 October 2024 World record

Circuit wins and titles

Track (facility) records

As of 22 September 2024, Kejelcha holds the following track (facility) records, or the fastest time recorded in an event in the history of the track's facility.

DistanceLocationTimeDateNotes
1500 m Nerja 3:32.3714 June 2024Personal best
3000 m Gothenburg 7:28.0018 August 2018
3000 m Oslo 7:26.251 July 2021
3000 m Rabat 7:32.9313 July 2018
10,000 m Nerja 26:31.0114 June 2024Personal best

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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)
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  5. "Yomif Kejelcha wint in Nanjing" (in Dutch). Hardloopnieuws.nl. 25 August 2014. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
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  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 .
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  12. "Results: 112th NYRR Millrose Games". NYRR Millrose Games. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
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  14. Sampaolo, Diego (19 March 2023). "Walelegn wins again in Seoul, Obiri and Kiplimo conquer New York". World Athletics . Retrieved 19 March 2023.
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  23. "Prefontaine Classic/Stanford DL" (PDF). Track and Field News.
Records
Preceded by Men’s Mile World Indoor Record Holder
3 March 2019 –
Succeeded by
Incumbent