Aweke Ayalew

Ayalew has prospered since changing nationality from Ethiopia to Bahrain on May 1, 2013. A year later he competed for Bahrain at the World Half Marathon Championships in Copenhagen, finishing 50^th.

He gained his first title for his adopted country also in 2014, winning the Asian Cross Country Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, itself a famous venue in marathon history. After setting his current half marathon personal best of 60:10 to finish fifth in New Delhi on October 21, 2018, the Bahraini was primed for his marathon debut which came in Frankfurt almost exactly a year later.

An impressive debut at the distance it proved to be, finishing third in a hotly contested finish which had four men vying for the top honours over the last 200 metres. Ayalew clocked 2:07:12, providing a strong suggestion that he had potential for faster times. The Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon should be an ideal platform to explore such ability.

Age

26

Country

Bahrain

Best Time

2:07:12

(3rd, Frankfurt, 2019)