Letesenbet Gidey

She is only the second athlete, after Ingrid Kristiansen from 1989–1991, to hold the two world records simultaneously.

Her record in the half marathon, making Letesenbet the first debutante to set a world record in the event, broke the previous mark by more than a minute.

She also holds the world best in the 15 km road race, which was also an over one-minute improvement.

Letesenbet became the first woman to break the 64 and 63-minute barriers in the half marathon and the 45-minute barrier in the 15 km. She recorded the fastest women's marathon debut in history at the 2022 Valencia Marathon, placing her seventh on the respective world all-time list.

Letesenbet Gidey (Tigrinya: ለተሰንበት ግደይ, born 20 March 1998) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who holds two world records and one world best.

She advanced to the finals and finished 11th of 14 starters, stopping the clock at 15:04.99.

The race was won by Hellen Obiri in a time of 14:34.86, the silver medal went to Almaz Ayana, who ran 14:40.35, and Sifan Hassan was third in 14:42.74.

In February, Letesenbet won the 6 km race at the sixth leg of the IAAF Cross Country Permit series taking place in San Vittore Olona, Italy.

Her winning time was 18:14.

On 26 May, she ran the 5,000 m at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, U.S. and placed second in a time of 14:30.29, beating Obiri in third in 14:35.03; Genzebe Dibaba won the race in 14:26.89.

On 10 February, Letesenbet competed in the 10 km run at the Jan Meda Cross Country Championships in Addis Ababa, finishing second with a time of 35:55.

The winner of the event was Dera Dida in 35:50.

At the World Cross Country Championships in Aarhus, Denmark, she participated in the senior race.

The world 5000 m champion Hellen Obiri took the title on the extremely hilly 10.2 km course with a time of 36:14, Dida was the runner-up in 36:16, and Letesenbet earned the bronze medal by clocking 36:24.

She raced the 10,000 m at the Ethiopian Championships in Addis Ababa on 8 May, winning in a time of 32:10.2.

On 19 May, Letesenbet ran the 10 km road race in Bengaluru, India.

She placed second, with Agnes Tirop the winner and Senbere Teferi in third place.

She then won the 2,000 m / 3,000 m steeplechase double for the Tigray region at the Ethiopian Schools Championships in Shashemane in late 2012.

On 14 June, 16-year-old Letesenbet ran the 5,000 metres at the Ethiopian Championships to finish third with a time of 16:19.30.

Almaz Ayana won with a time of 16:11.40, and Kidsan Alema was second with 16:13.48.

On 1 February, she won the junior 6 km race at the Jan Meda International Cross Country in Addis Ababa – Ethiopia's trials for the World Cross Country Championships – with a time of 20:30.

On 28 March, she competed in her first international race outside of Ethiopia at the World Cross Country Championships in Guiyang, China, claiming the world under-20 title on a 6.03 km course in a time of 19:48; together with her Ethiopian teammates Letesenbet also took the team title with a clean individual podium sweep.

Just eight days after her 17 birthday, she was the youngest junior women's winner for 15 years.

On 21 June, she won the 5,000 m run in Bottrop, Germany, with a time of 15:39.83.

The runner-up was Jana Groß-Hardt in 17:06.33.

At first, Letesenbet was disqualified because she had stepped on a marking on the track, and Groß-Hardt stood at the top of the podium during the award ceremony.

Letesenbet objected to this decision, reasoning that her misstep had not given her an unfair advantage, and as a result of her appeal, she was reinstated as the winner.

On 15 July, she ran the 3,000 m girls' race at the World U18 Championships in Cali, Colombia, finishing fourth with a time of 9:04.64.

On 22 May, an 18-year-old Letesenbet took victory in the 5,000 metres at the FBK Games in Hengelo, Netherlands, in a time of 14:58.44.

On 30 June, she won the event at a track meet in Barcelona with a time of 14:45.63, defeating multiple world record holder Genzebe Dibaba who dropped out after 3,600 m.

She won the women's junior race at the Ethiopian Cross Country championships on 13 February in Addis Ababa.

On 26 March, she defended her junior title on a 6 km course at the World Cross Country Championship in Kampala, Uganda.

The then 19-year-old competed in the 5000 m event at the World Championships in London.

At age 17, Letesenbet won the junior race at the 2015 World Cross Country Championships.

She retained the title in 2017 to take a bronze medal in the senior race in 2019.

Letesenbet Gidey was born in Endameskel in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia.

She is the youngest of four siblings, having two brothers and a sister, and grew up on the family's farm.

She was expelled from school as a 13-year-old for refusing to run in physical education classes and was only allowed to return when she agreed to participate.

In the 10,000 metres, she is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist, 2019 World silver medallist, and 2022 World champion.

Letesenbet holds the current world records for the 10,000 metres and half marathon, which she set in June 2021 and October 2021, respectively.