Limenih Getachew Yizengaw

At the age of 29 Limenih Getachew has plenty of experience in the marathon. The classic distance has always been his favourite event. Even for African elite runners it is very uncommon to come to the European road racing circuit for the first time and start their international career with a marathon debut.

This is exactly what Getachew did back in 2012. He ran very well when he clocked 2:07:39 in Cologne for second place. He slightly improved in the following year and then ran his current personal best of 2:06:49 in Paris in 2014 finishing second once more. Getachew had one below par year so far: In 2017 he ran in Dubai for the first time and finished ninth in 2:11:16, then he dropped out of the Hamburg Marathon in spring.

He was back in 2018 winning the Lisbon Marathon in 2:07:34 – though that was on a short course – and showed solid performances in 2019.

Birhanu Bekele Berga

Berga Birhanu Bekele has been a marathon runner for more than a decade. However his development is very unusual. It took a long time until he improved his personal best of 2:09:41 which he ran back in 2009 in Beijing.

Ten years later Bekele, who is not related to Ethiopia’s superstar Kenenisa Bekele, finally broke his PB: He smashed it when he clocked 2:06:41 for third place in Sevilla in 2019. In between these two personal bests he had a number of strong results, winning the marathons in Florence in 2011, Nanjing (China) in 2015 and Krakow in 2018.

Despite taking a fine eighth place in the World Half Marathon Championships in 2010 he has not competed at this distance again since 2011. Instead Bekele has focussed on the marathon only. At the age of 38 he finally seems to flourish.

Soloman Deksisa

With a world-class personal best of 2:04:40, Soloman Deksisa is the fastest athlete on the start line for the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon.

Despite his relatively young age, the 25-year-old Ethiopian has quite some experience in marathon running. After a brief track career Deksisa turned to road running very early. He was 20 when he won the San Diego Half Marathon with a PB of 60:12 in 2014.

Less than two years later he decided to go for the marathon distance and ran an impressive debut in Rotterdam where he finished second with 2:06:22. Since then he has fully focussed on the classic distance and took his first marathon victory in Mumbai in 2018 and then triumphed in Hamburg a few months later. He capped his best year so far in Amsterdam with his PB of 2:04:40.

Seifu Tura

Since making his marathon debut with a solid second place in 2:09:26 in Seoul in 2017, the 22-year-old Ethiopian Seifu Tura had proved a consistent performer, only failing once to finish the distance which was in Tokyo in early March 2019.

His best day so far has been in the 2018 edition of the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon when he took full advantage of the renowned fast course to carve a big slice off his personal best, improving by over four minutes to run 2:04:44 for seventh place.

Dubai provided the keynote to a strong showing in general in 2018 which brought victories in Milan and Shanghai. Tura recovered from the disappointment of dropping out of Tokyo on March 3, 2019 with a strong performance in his most recent marathon, finishing sixth in Chicago on October 10 last year in 2:08:35, the second fastest marathon of his career so far.

Another good sign is setting a half marathon best with 59:17 in Buenos Aires last August.

Aychew Bantie Dessie

The 24-year-old Ethiopian Aychew Bantie arrives for his Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon debut after a busy year on the road in 2019.

He performed creditably in all three marathons he contested, winning the Hengshui title in China in September after beginning the year with second place in Mumbai in 2:10:05.

In Prague in May he ran the fastest marathon of his career so far, finishing third in 2:06:23, an improvement of almost two minutes over his previous best, set when finishing runner-up at the 2018 Kosice Marathon in Slovakia with 2:08:15.

In so doing Bantie played his part in the oldest marathon in Europe – Kosice was first held in 1924. He should be in good shape to attack his personal best on Dubai’s fast course, having won the Heerenberg 15km in the Netherlands last month in 43:34.

Andualem Belay Shiferaw

As with a number of elite competitors returning to run the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon, Andualem Shiferaw’s made a breakthrough in the event in Dubai.

In 2015 he ran 2:09:56 for tenth place, breaking 2:10 for the first time following his debutant year at the event in 2013 when his first effort earned him 2:17:17 for eighth in Seville.

In keeping with a number of East African runners, he has raced with success in China, winning in Xichang in 2018. Last year provided another breakthrough as Shiferaw chopped over three minutes off his best in Dubai four years previously and won another title into the bargain with his 2:06:00 in Lisbon on October 20.

This rounded off a busy and victorious marathon year for him. The 27-year-old Ethiopian won the Riga title in 2:08:51 in May after taking the Castellon crown with 2:08:16 in February.