Kalkidan Gezahegne

Kalkidan Gezahegne
Kalkidan Gezahegne in Birmingham 2010
Full name	Kalkidan Gezahegne Befkadu
nation	Bahrain Ethiopia
birthday	8th May 1991 (age 29)
place of birth	Addis Ababa , Ethiopia
size	161 cm
Weight	52 kg
Career
discipline	Middle distance run
Trainer	Farhan
National squad	since 2013
status	active
Medal table
Indoor world championships 1 × 0 × 0 × Asian Games 2 × 0 × 0 × U20 world championships 0 × 1 × 0 ×
Indoor world championships gold Doha 2010 1500 m  Asian Games gold Jakarta 2018 1500 m gold Jakarta 2018 5000 m  Junior World Championships silver Bydgoszcz 2008 1500 m
last change: October 10, 2018

Kalkidan Gezahegne Befkadu (born May 8, 1991 in Addis Ababa ) is a Bahraini middle and long distance runner of Ethiopian origin who specializes in the 1500 meter run . She has been eligible to start for Bahrain since 2013.

Athletic career

Internationally, Kalkidan Gezahegne stepped at the 2008 African Championships in Addis Ababa , where she was eliminated in the first round of the 800-meter run . Then she won the silver medal over 1500 meters behind the British Stephanie Twell at the Junior World Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland in 4: 16.58 min . The following year she also won the silver medal behind the South African Caster Semenya at the Junior African Championships in Bambous . She also qualified for the World Championships in Berlin , where she finished ninth in the 1,500 meter run in 4: 08.81 minutes . She celebrated her greatest success so far by winning the title at the 2010 World Indoor Championships in Doha in 4: 08.14 minutes. She became the youngest indoor world champion in history. In 2011 she qualified again for the World Championships in Daegu , where she finished fifth in 4: 06.42 minutes.

As a result, she was slowed down by injuries for two years and decided to start for Bahrain in 2013. In 2017 she took part in the 5000-meter run at the World Championships in London and finished 14th in the final . In 2018 she took part in the Asian Games in Jakarta for the first time , where she won gold medals in the 1500 and 5000 meters.

Personal best

• 800 meters: 2: 10.35 min, May 3, 2008 in Addis Ababa
• 1500 meters: 4: 00.97 min, May 29, 2011 in Hengelo
  • 1500 meters (hall): 4: 03.28 min, February 10, 2010 in Stockholm
• 1 mile : 4: 37.76 min, September 7, 2008 in Rieti
  • Mile (hall): 4: 24.10 min, February 20, 2010 in Birmingham
• 3000 meters: 8: 34.65 min, September 4, 2018 in Zagreb
  • 3000 meters (hall): 8: 37.47 min, February 19, 2011 in Birmingham
• 5000 meters: 15: 07.19 min, August 10, 2017 in London

Web links

• Kalkidan gezahegne in the database of World Athletics (English)