Ethiopia
2020
No Olympics, almost no calendar — and still a world record, a one-second London win in the rain, and the night the sport's longest unbeaten run ended.
Ethiopia's 2020 lost its Olympics to the postponement and still produced three big nights: Letesenbet Gidey's 5000 m world record (14:06.62, Valencia, 7 October), Shura Kitata's one-second win at the biosecure London Marathon — the race that ended Eliud Kipchoge's unbeaten run going back to 2013 — and team gold at the Gdynia World Half, the only World Championships of the year.
This is the season on the loop: nineteen laps of St James's Park under a storm, the record that passed between Ethiopian generations, the December depth of Valencia — and the adidas Olympic Team 2020 crop top, kit of a Games that moved, 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 2020 kit or browse the collection.
- The year
- Tokyo postponed to 2021; the only Worlds actually held was the World Half in Gdynia
- The record
- Gidey 14:06.62 (Valencia, 7 Oct) — 4.5 s off Tirunesh's 12-year-old 5000 m record
- Same night
- Cheptegei's 10,000 m record (26:11.00) fell on the same track, minutes earlier
- London
- Kitata wins by ONE second (2:05:41) — 19 laps of St James's Park, wettest London ever
- The upset
- Kipchoge 8th — his first marathon defeat since 2013
- Gdynia
- Women's team GOLD + Yehualaw bronze; men's team silver + Walelegn bronze
- The bookends
- Dubai in January (Ethiopian double; 11 men under 2:07, a first) · Valencia in December (Legese 2:03:16)
- G1/G2 2026
- Gidey's half WR (1:02:52) still stands; she is on maternity leave; Kitata's PB now 2:03:59
The Year That Stopped — and Still Ran
2020 gave Ethiopian athletics no Olympics — Tokyo moved to 2021 — and almost no calendar: the spring marathons died, London shrank to an elite-only loop in October, and the only World Championships actually held was the World Half in Gdynia. The honest story of the year is that in a season this empty, Ethiopia still found three big nights.
The first came before the shutdown: in Dubai in January, Worknesh Degefa led the women's race from start to finish for her second title there, and debutant Olika Adugna won a four-man sprint in the men's — a race in which, for the first time in marathon history, eleven men broke 2:07. The second was Valencia, 7 October, at an event built purely for record attempts: Letesenbet Gidey ran 14:06.62 for 5000 metres, taking four and a half seconds off Tirunesh Dibaba's world record — a mark that had stood since 2008, an Ethiopian record passing between Ethiopian generations. Minutes earlier on the same track, Joshua Cheptegei had broken the men's 10,000 record.
Gidey's 14:06.62 is no longer the record — it started the chain that ran through Kipyegon and Gudaf Tsegay to Beatrice Chebet's first sub-14 in 2025 — but her half marathon world record from the following year, 1:02:52, still stands in 2026. She is on a maternity pause, not retired: her son was born in 2025.
Nineteen Laps and One Second
The third night was actually an afternoon of rain. The 2020 London Marathon was run on 4 October as an elite-only, biosecure race: nineteen laps of a 2.15 kilometre circuit around St James's Park, under Storm Alex, in the wettest edition the race has known. Shura Kitata won it in 2:05:41, outsprinting Vincent Kipchumba by one second on The Mall.
Hover or tab on a marker. Sources: Wikipedia, the 2020 London Marathon and Shura Kitata. Verified August 2026.
The loop (table)
| Moment | Detail |
|---|---|
| The course | 19 laps of a 2.15 km biosecure circuit around St James's Park, finishing on The Mall |
| The weather | Storm Alex — the wettest London Marathon on record |
| The winner | Shura Kitata, 2:05:41 — outsprinting Vincent Kipchumba (2:05:42) by ONE second |
| The upset | Kipchoge 8th, 2:06:49 — his first marathon defeat since 2013; he blamed a blocked right ear |
| The women | Kosgei retained the title (2:18:58); Bekere 4th and Megertu 5th for Ethiopia |
| The 2026 note | Kitata's lifetime best now reads 2:03:59 (Seville 2026) — the win was no accident |
Behind them, the story that made the front pages: Eliud Kipchoge — who had not lost a marathon since 2013 — drifted off in the closing laps and finished eighth in 2:06:49, blaming a blocked right ear. An Ethiopian winning in London rain while the era's dominant champion faltered: the echo of Gelana's 2012, eight years on, is the bridge between the two pages of this pair — the other half is in our Ethiopia 2012 season page.
Gdynia, December Depth — and the Kit
The one World Championships that survived 2020 was the World Half in Gdynia, and Ethiopia's women won the team gold, with Yalemzerf Yehualaw taking individual bronze three seconds behind Peres Jepchirchir's world record; the men added team silver and a bronze for Amedework Walelegn. December closed the year with depth rather than headlines: in the elite-only Valencia Marathon, four men beat the old course record and the third of them was Birhanu Legese at 2:03:16. On the track, Selemon Barega's 12:49.08 behind Jacob Kiplimo in Ostrava was the down payment on what came next — Olympic 10,000 gold in Tokyo, July 2021.
The archive's piece is the adidas Ethiopia OLYMPIC TEAM crop top marked for the 2020 cycle — kit issued for a Games that did not happen that year. The team it dressed raced in 2021; the garment kept the date. Same adidas–federation era as every Ethiopia piece on this rail.
Kitata, for the record, has never stopped: second in New York in 2022, third in 2023, and a lifetime best 2:03:59 in Seville in 2026. The whole national arc is in our history of athletics in Ethiopia.
From this season · in the archiveAdidas Ethiopia Olympic Team Pro Elite 2020 Women Crop TopAdidas Ethiopia Olympic Team crop top marked for the 2020 cycle — the kit of an Olympic team whose Games moved to 2021.90,00 €View piece →Ethiopia 2020
One piece from the Ethiopian team's 2020 cycle — the adidas OLYMPIC TEAM crop top of a Games that moved to 2021. The garment kept the date.
What did Ethiopian athletics achieve in 2020?
Three big nights in an almost empty year: Letesenbet Gidey's 5000 m world record (14:06.62 in Valencia), Shura Kitata's win at the elite-only London Marathon by one second, and the women's team gold at the Gdynia World Half — the only World Championships held that year.
Whose record did Gidey break?
Tirunesh Dibaba's 14:11.15 from 2008 — an Ethiopian record passing between Ethiopian generations, twelve years apart. Gidey's mark later started the chain that ended in the first sub-14 (Chebet, 13:58.06, 2025); her own half marathon world record, 1:02:52, still stands in 2026.
Did Kipchoge really lose the 2020 London Marathon?
Yes — eighth in 2:06:49, his first marathon defeat since 2013, on a rain-soaked 19-lap biosecure circuit around St James's Park. Kitata beat Kipchumba to the line by one second.
What kit is the Ethiopia 2020 piece in this archive?
The adidas Ethiopia OLYMPIC TEAM crop top marked for the 2020 cycle — issued for an Olympics that was pushed to 2021. The Ethiopia collection holds it alongside the rest of the adidas-era rail.
Sources and References
- World Athletics — the Valencia record night — Gidey’s 14:06.62 and Cheptegei’s 26:11.00, same track, same evening
- Wikipedia — the 2020 London Marathon — the 19-lap biosecure loop, the storm, the one-second finish and Kipchoge’s 8th
- Wikipedia — the 2020 World Half Marathon Championships — the Gdynia team gold and both individual bronzes
- World Athletics — the Dubai 2020 report — the January double and the eleven men under 2:07
- Wikipedia — Shura Kitata — the career after London, down to the 2:03:59 of Seville 2026