Gebrehiwot grew up in Asmara and started running at the age of seven. After the end of the Eritrean Civil War in 1991, her parents moved to Addis Ababa with her and her older sister . Gebrehiwot has lived in Germany since 2011 and competes in athletics for the TV Wattenscheid 01 club . She received her naturalization certificate in February 2014 and has been a German citizen since then.
On September 8, 2013, she won the Münster Marathon in a record time of 2:29:12 hours, which also meant meeting the standard for the 2014 European Athletics Championships in Zurich . However, she was unable to attend because of a problem with her right Achilles tendon.