Yigrem Demelash made his national debut in 2011 at the Great Ethiopian Run , a well-known popular sport event in Ethiopia, where he finished second over the 10,000 meters. In 2012 he set his best time of 13: 03.30 minutes over the 5000 meters in Oslo. In July he competed over 10,000 meters at the U20 World Championships in Barcelona. With a final time of 28: 16.07 min, he was able to win the gold medal and end a long-standing dominance of the Kenyans on this route. In September he ran the 10,000 meters under 27 minutes for the first time in Brussels. His 26: 57.56 minutes meant a new U20 national record. From 2013 he started with the adults. Starting for Ethiopia at the World Cross Country Championships in Bydgoszcz, however, he finished 69th in one of the lower places, having previously taken second place at the national cross country championships. He then almost completely missed the 2014 and 2015 seasons.
In May 2016 he reported back to the world elite with a time of 26: 51.11 minutes over the 10,000 meters in a competition in Hengelo. During this time, he took 32nd place on the world's best list (as of 2020) over this distance and was the fastest of the year to travel to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. In the final on August 13, he finished fourth in 27: 06.27 minutes. At the finish he was only a hundredth of a second short of bronze, which his compatriot Tamirat Tola won.
Ethiopia
Barcelona
Bydgoszcz
Rio de Janeiro