Yitayal Atnafu Zerihun

During the first part of his career Yitayal Atnafu Zerihun competed at a number of world-class indoor and outdoor meetings, achieving fine personal bests of 13:04.18 and 27:50.70 at 5,000 and 10,000 m respectively.

It was after running his PB at 10,000 m in 2015 when he switched to road running. Zerihun soon moved up to the marathon distance, running his debut in Houston in January 2016 with 2:12:09.

He improved to well below 2:10 in his next race, when he clocked 2:08:53 in Paris. From 2017 to 2019 the Ethiopian collected a number of runner-up positions in top marathons. Most recently he was second in Istanbul last November. However so far Zerihun has not managed to win a marathon.

The flat course in Dubai will probably provide a perfect opportunity for the 27 year-old to significantly improve his PB.

Age

26

Country

Ethiopia

Best Time

2:07:00

(4th, Paris, 2018)