Ethiopia
2019
Eight medals in Doha, two marathons run at one minute to midnight, and a 2:01:41 in Berlin the same weekend that missed the world record by two seconds.
Ethiopia won eight medals at the 2019 World Championships in Doha — two gold, five silver, one bronze, fifth in the table — with Muktar Edris defending the 5000 m title and Lelisa Desisa and Mosinet Geremew going one-two in a men's marathon that started at 23:59. Two days earlier, in Berlin, Kenenisa Bekele had run 2:01:41, two seconds outside the world record.
This is the whole year: the five silvers, the two midnight marathons and what the heat did to them, the Berlin near-miss and where the record has gone since — and the adidas Ethiopia singlet of that allocation, one piece of which is in this archive.
Part of our Season Series — one year at a time. The full national story is in The History of Athletics in Ethiopia. Jump to the 2019 kit or browse the collection.
- Doha 2019
- 8 medals (2-5-1) — fifth in the table, 37 athletes, all eight from 1500 m up
- The defence
- Edris keeps the 5000 m title, 12:58.85 — Barega silver 0.85 s behind
- The hundredth
- Girma 8:01.36, steeplechase silver by 0.01 — the closest finish in the event's championship history
- Midnight, men
- Desisa 2:10:40 and Geremew 2:10:44, one-two; 55 of 73 finished
- Midnight, women
- 68 started, 40 finished — all three Ethiopians withdrew before halfway
- Berlin, 29 Sept
- Bekele 2:01:41 — two seconds off the world record of the day
- The record now
- Sawe 1:59:30 and Kejelcha 1:59:41, London, 26 Apr 2026 — the 2019 marks are history
- In the archive
- One piece of the 2019 allocation: the adidas women's distance singlet
Eight Medals, Five of Them Silver
Ethiopia took 37 athletes to the World Championships in Doha and came home fifth in the table with eight medals: two gold, five silver, one bronze. Every one of the eight came from 1500 metres upwards, which is the shape of Ethiopian athletics, and five of them were decided by less than a second.
The first gold was a defence. On 30 September Muktar Edris, world champion in London two years earlier, held off his own teammate Selemon Barega over the last 40 metres of the 5000 m final, 12:58.85 to 12:59.70. Two days earlier Letesenbet Gidey had run 30:21.23 for silver in the 10,000 m behind Sifan Hassan; on the final night Yomif Kejelcha took the men's 10,000 m silver in 26:49.34, 0.97 s behind Joshua Cheptegei. Gudaf Tsegay added a bronze in the 1500 m with a personal best of 3:54.38.
The narrowest of the silvers was Lamecha Girma's. Still eligible for the under-20 age group, he ran 8:01.36 in the steeplechase final on 4 October — an Ethiopian record then — and lost the gold to Conseslus Kipruto by one hundredth of a second, the closest steeplechase finish in the history of the championships. The women's 5000 m was the one distance final without an Ethiopian medal: Tsehay Gemechu was fourth in 14:29.60, with Fantu Worku sixth and Hawi Feysa eighth.
Two Fields at Midnight
Doha moved its marathons to one minute before midnight to escape the day, and the night was not much cooler. The women started on 27 September at 30 degrees and 70 percent humidity: 68 runners, 40 finishers, 28 drop-outs. Ruth Chepngetich won in 2:32:43, the slowest winning time the championships had ever recorded. All three Ethiopians — Ruti Aga, Roza Dereje and Shure Demise — were out before halfway.
Hover or tab on a field. Sources: World Athletics race reports for the women's and men's marathons, Doha 2019 (starters, finishers, conditions). Verified September 2026.
The two midnight fields, in numbers
| Race | Started | Finished | Did not finish | Ethiopians |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Women's marathon, 27 Sep 2019 | 68 | 40 | 28 | 3 started, 3 withdrew before halfway |
| Men's marathon, 5 Oct 2019 | 73 | 55 | 18 | Desisa 1st (2:10:40), Geremew 2nd (2:10:44) |
Eight days later the men went off at the same hour, 29 degrees and 48 percent. Of 73 starters, 18 did not finish. Lelisa Desisa won in 2:10:40 and Mosinet Geremew followed him home four seconds later for an Ethiopian one-two — the country's first men's world marathon title since Gezahegne Abera in 2001. Amos Kipruto of Kenya took the bronze, seven seconds further back.
Read the two races together and the season's thesis is there: the depth held on the track and in the men's marathon, and the heat took the whole women's marathon team in one night. Dereje answered in December, winning Valencia in a course record 2:18:30.
Two Seconds in Berlin, and the Rest of the Year
The other Ethiopian race of that week was not in Doha. On 29 September, between the women's and the men's marathons, Kenenisa Bekele ran 2:01:41 in Berlin — two seconds outside the world record Eliud Kipchoge had set on the same course a year earlier, and at that moment the second-fastest marathon ever run. Ashete Bekere won the women's race in 2:20:14, passing Mare Dibaba in the last kilometre for an Ethiopian double.
The record has moved twice since. Sabastian Sawe ran 1:59:30 in London on 26 April 2026, the first sub-two-hour marathon in a record-eligible race; in the same race Yomif Kejelcha — the 10,000 m silver medallist of this page — made his marathon debut in 1:59:41 and became the fastest Ethiopian in history. Seven years on, the 2:01:41 is still Bekele's own best.
Around the championships, 2019 was a year of Ethiopian winners on every kind of ground. Getaneh Molla won Dubai in January in 2:03:34, the fastest marathon debut anyone had run. Birhanu Legese and Ruti Aga took both races in Tokyo in March, 2:04:48 and 2:20:40. Worknesh Degefa won Boston in 2:23:31. At the World Cross Country Championships in Aarhus on 30 March the mixed relay team won gold in 25:49, Dera Dida and Gidey took silver and bronze in the senior women's race, and Milkesa Mengesha and Tadese Worku went one-two in the under-20 men's race. Getnet Wale closed the Diamond League with the steeplechase trophy in Brussels. In Chicago in October and New York in November, Ethiopians filled second and third places in both cities.
From this cycle · in the archiveAdidas Ethiopia Pro Elite 2019 Women Distance SingletAdidas Ethiopia women's distance singlet marked for the 2019 allocation — the yellow-and-green federation cut of the Doha generation, with ETHIOPIA in red across the chest.100,00 €View piece →The adidas Ethiopia Kit
The piece we hold from this season is the women's distance singlet: a yellow body with a green chest yoke in a small triangular mesh pattern, ETHIOPIA in red across the chest, the flag on the right and the white adidas mark on the left, three green stripes down the sides. Its tag describes it as worn by Ethiopian international athletes across the 2017, 2018 and 2019 seasons, 100 percent polyester, size XS. That is the cut Gidey, Tsegay and Gemechu raced in on the Doha track.
adidas dressed the Ethiopian federation through this era — the same three stripes that carried the team through 2020, Eugene 2022 and the RHEON generation of Paris 2024. We have not found a dated announcement of the supply contract itself, so this page does not give one; the garment's label is the evidence.
The Doha races on the Kenyan side of the same nights are in our Kenya 2019 season page; the next Ethiopian chapter, the empty-calendar year of Gidey's Valencia record, is in Ethiopia 2020, and the whole national arc is in our history of athletics in Ethiopia.
Ethiopia 2019
The piece marked for the 2019 allocation — adidas federation kit of the Doha generation, issued to the team in the quantities the squad needed, which is why a single singlet reaches an archive at a time.
How many medals did Ethiopia win at the 2019 World Championships in Doha?
Eight: two gold, five silver and one bronze, fifth in the medal table. Muktar Edris (5000 m) and Lelisa Desisa (marathon) won the golds; Selemon Barega, Yomif Kejelcha, Letesenbet Gidey, Lamecha Girma and Mosinet Geremew took the silvers; Gudaf Tsegay won bronze in the 1500 m.
What happened in the midnight marathons in Doha?
Both marathons started at 23:59 to avoid the daytime heat. The women's race on 27 September, run at 30 degrees and 70 percent humidity, lost 28 of 68 starters, including all three Ethiopians. The men's race on 5 October lost 18 of 73, and Desisa and Geremew finished first and second, four seconds apart.
How close did Kenenisa Bekele get to the marathon world record in 2019?
Two seconds. He ran 2:01:41 in Berlin on 29 September 2019 against Kipchoge's 2:01:39. The record has since moved to 1:59:30 (Sabastian Sawe, London, April 2026), and the fastest Ethiopian is now Yomif Kejelcha, 1:59:41 in the same race.
Which brand made the Ethiopia 2019 team kit?
adidas. The Ethiopia collection holds the women's distance singlet of the 2019 allocation: yellow with a green chest yoke, ETHIOPIA in red, three green stripes on the sides.
Sources and References
- World Athletics — Doha 2019 men’s 5000 m report — Edris 12:58.85, Barega 12:59.70
- World Athletics — Doha 2019 men’s marathon report — the 23:59 start, 73 starters, 18 did not finish, Desisa and Geremew
- World Athletics — Doha 2019 women’s marathon report — 68 starters, 40 finishers, the three Ethiopian withdrawals
- World Athletics — Doha 2019 men’s steeplechase report — Girma 8:01.36, one hundredth behind Kipruto
- Wikipedia — Ethiopia at the 2019 World Athletics Championships — the eight medals and the fifth place
- World Athletics — Berlin Marathon 2019 report — Bekele 2:01:41, two seconds off the record; Bekere 2:20:14
- World Athletics — Aarhus 2019 mixed relay report — the mixed relay gold in 25:49
- Wikipedia — Yomif Kejelcha — the 1:59:41 marathon debut in London, April 2026
- Running Magazine — Tsegay’s four-month suspension (2026) — the sanction running from 1 June to 30 September 2026