Kumeshi Shichala Deressa

Kumeshi has made big improvements in her marathon performances in the last two years, running her fastest ever at her most recent attempt at the distance and winning the Kosice title into the bargain with 2:26:01 on October 6, 2019.

Success in Slovakia at Europe’s oldest marathon marked a steady rise for the 24-year-old Ethiopian. Earlier in the same year she finished third in the Latvian capital of Riga with 2:29:44. Kumeshi sharpened her speed at the shorter distances as well last year, running 71:19 for third place in the Kiev half marathon although her best at the distance goes back to 2014 and the Czech city of Karlovy Vary (70:56).

In her marathon career her times were hovering around the 2:30 mark until first Riga on May 19 last year when she broke 2:30 for the first time and then came further improvement plus victory in Kosice.

Dibabe Kuma Lema

Dibabe Kuma is still relatively new to the marathon. The 23 year-old has only run the classic distance on two occasions. Both of these races were excellent.

Kuma ran her debut in Ljubljana in 2018 when she achieved a credible time of 2:23:34. Last spring she took the Hamburg Marathon with a dominant performance in difficult weather conditions. Wet and chilly weather caused many runners to drop out because of muscle problems, including Kuma’s pacemakers!

But despite this the Ethiopian was in the lead from start to finish and clocked 2:24:41, celebrating her biggest career win. The race in Hamburg indicates that she should be able to run much faster than her personal best in good conditions on the flat Dubai course. Her PB in the half marathon also suggests this. Little less than a year ago she was second in the Barcelona half marathon with 66:45.

Dera Dida

Dera Dida has got all the tools to become a world-class marathon runner and improve to well under 2:20. The Ethiopian has a track background and good speed, she has been successful in cross country on the highest level and has already run two very good marathons.

Two years ago, Dida came to Dubai as a highly promising debutant. She had won a silver medal in the junior race at the 2015 World Cross Country Championships and her half marathon PB of 68:06 suggested that she was a ready for a good race. The youngster lived up to expectations. She ran 2:21:45 and later in the year confirmed this performance with a 2:22:39 finish in a windy Frankfurt race.

Returning to the fast Dubai course Dida should be ready for the next step. While she paused with marathon running in 2018 she took an excellent silver medal at the World Cross Country Championships in Aarhus, Denmark, in spring.

Bedatu Hirpa

The 20-year-old Ethiopian has had a busy marathon life which began as a teenager with a solid debut to finish third in Madrid in 2:34:47 in 2017.

Athens and its tough course later that year showed her consistency and proved to be the platform for major improvement in Seville in February 2018, running a personal best by almost nine minutes. Frankfurt in October 2018 showed her rise continuing with what remains her fastest marathon to-date: 2:21:32 for third place. She had become a top-level marathoner while still short of her 20th birthday.

Invitations to premier races continued and Hirpa did well in Tokyo in March 2019, finishing fifth in 2:23:43 in what is always a tough field. A month later she sharpened her performance at the half marathon, running a lifetime best to win the Shanghai title in 72:11. Her return to Frankfurt in late October last year proved to be a setback but likely to be temporary in such a young talent.

Alemu Megertu

Alemu Megertu, who is also known as Megertu Kebede, could very well be in for a surprise in Dubai.

Little more than four years ago the Ethiopian started competing at international level. She then quickly turned to the marathon, running her debut in March 2017 in Zhengzhou (China) in 2:29:10. In the meantime Megertu has some experience in marathon running since she has run a total of eight races.

Her break-through performance came in Rome last spring, where she clocked a course record of 2:22:52. She then showed good form in the build up to the Frankfurt Marathon, when she clocked a PB of 66:43 in the half marathon in Copenhagen. While she missed her target of running sub 2:20 in Frankfurt she still clocked a PB of 2:21:10 and took second place in a very competitive race. This is a very promising development ahead of Dubai.

Worknesh Degefa Debele

Worknesh Degefa has an excellent record at the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon. The Ethiopian established herself as one of the world’s leading marathon runners last year, when she was runner-up in Dubai with a sensational time of 2:17:41.

Improving the Ethiopian record of superstar Tirunesh Dibaba by 15 seconds, she became the fourth fastest marathon runner ever at that time. She then dominated the Boston Marathon in April and won in 2:23:31.

Two years earlier Degefa caused an upset in Dubai, when she won her debut with 2:22:36. She returned to the race in 2018, taking fourth place in 2:19:53. Degefa planned to run the New York Marathon in early November 2019 but had to withdraw due to an injury.

The 29 year-old is a very consistent half marathon runner. She has a strong personal best of 66:14 and has run sub 68:00 on seven occasions. Degefa originally comes from Bale, a mountainous area south of Addis Ababa.