Toned whales

Toned whales
Full name	Toned whales
nation	Ethiopia
birthday	16th July 2000 (age 20)
place of birth	Sekela ,  Ethiopia
size	179 cm
Weight	59 kg
Career
discipline	3000 meters obstacle
Best performance	8: 05.21 min
Trainer	Teshome Kebede
status	active
Medal table
Africa Games 0 × 1 × 0 × African Championships 0 × 0 × 1 × U20 world championships 0 × 0 × 2 ×
Africa Games silver Rabat 2019 3000 m obstacle  African Championships bronze Asaba 2018 3000 m obstacle  U20 world championships bronze Tampere 2018 3000 m obstacle bronze Bydgoszcz 2016 3000 m obstacle
last change: February 4, 2020

Getnet Wale (born July 16, 2000 in Sekela ) is an Ethiopian athlete who specializes in the obstacle course .

Life

Getnet Wale was born into a family of farmers in Sekela, in southeast Ethiopia, as one of eight children. Like many runners from the country, he comes from a rural region, which is why he consistently covered a long walk to school every day and thus laid the foundation for his later career in athletics. Already at the age of 13 he was able to achieve successes in local championships, but at that time he was still over flat distances of 1500 to 3000 meters. His achievements caught Teshome Kebede, a trainer at the Ethiopian Youth Sports Academy. He took whales under his wing and took them to Addis Ababa, where he has been training them ever since.

Wale trains, together with his teammate Lamecha Girma , in the academy, where they run up to 120 kilometers a week. During the COVID-19 pandemic , he continued to train to a lesser extent in lockdown and also helped his family out on the farm.

Athletic career

Getnet Wale has been competing in international obstacle courses since 2016. In July, shortly after his 16th birthday, he took part in the U20 World Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, over the 3000 meter distance. He then missed participation in the Summer Olympics in Rio. In 8: 22.83 min, he won the bronze medal. Only a year later he was able to qualify for the World Championships in London. After third place in his intermediate run, he moved into the final, in which he finished ninth in 8: 25.28 minutes.

In April 2018 Wale became Ethiopian champion over the 3000 meter obstacle for the first time and then set his current best time of 13: 13.87 min over 5000 m in June. In July he took part in his second U20 World Championships in Tampere . Like two years before, he won bronze again in 8: 26.16 minutes. He also won bronze at the African Championships in Asaba. In 2019 he competed at the African Games in Rabat and won the silver medal in 8: 14.06 min. In October he qualified for the final at the World Championships in Doha, in which he set a new best time in 8: 05.21 minutes and thus took fourth place.

Major competitions

year	event	place	space	discipline	time
Starts for Ethiopia
2016	U20 world championships	Bydgoszcz	3.	3000 m obstacle	8: 22.83 min
2017	World championships	London	9.	3000 m obstacle	8: 25.28 min
2018	U20 world championships	Tampere	3.	3000 m obstacle	8: 26.16 min
	African Championships	Asaba	3.	3000 m obstacle	8: 30.87 min
2019	Africa Games	Rabat	2.	3000 m obstacle	8: 14.06 min
	World championships	Doha	4th	3000 m obstacle	8: 05.21 min

Personal best

• 3000 m obstacle : 8:05:21 min, October 4, 2019, Doha
• 5000 m : 13: 13.87 min, June 16, 2018, Carquefou
  • 3000 m (hall): 7: 32.80 min, February 19, 2020, Liévin

Web links

• Getnet whales in the database of World Athletics (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Profile of the Africa Games 2019
2. ↑ Landells, Steve (2020-06-16). Wale ready to make more steeplechase history for Ethiopia . IAAF. accessed on 2020-07-17.