Tirunesh Dibaba to Defend Great Manchester Run Title

Published by the IAAF on April 18, 2014

Tirunesh Dibaba, the reigning World and Olympic champion at 10,000m, is returning to the north west of England to defend her title in the Bupa Great Manchester Run, an IAAF Gold Label Road Race, on Sunday 18 May.

The 28-year-old Ethiopian reduced the women’s course record to 30:49 last year, and will return to Manchester following her impressive marathon debut in London the weekend before last.

She has held the World 5,000m record, 14:11.15, since 2008 and recently extended her range to the marathon in London on 13 April, finishing third behind Kenyans Edna Kiplagat and Florence Kiplagat in 2:20:35.

It made Dibaba the third fastest ever debutante as a women’s marathon runner, and would have undoubtedly been faster had she not lost touch with the Kiplagats after dropping her bottle at the 30km drinks station.

The Bupa Great Manchester Run will be a stepping stone to the summer track season for Dibaba, who has never lost a 10,000m race on the track and whose last defeat at the distance on the roads dates back to November 2002, when she finished runner up to Werknesh Kidane in the second Great Ethiopian Run.