Gudaf Tsegay

Gudaf Tsegay Desta (Amharic: ጉዳፉ ፀጋይ ደስታ; born 23 June 1997) is an Ethiopian middle- and long-distance runner. She is the current women’s world record holder for 5,000 m (14:00.21), set at the 2023 final Diamond League event, the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon. Eugene is also where she won the World Athletics Championships on 5,000 m in 2022. At the World Athletics Championships, Tsegay also won the gold medal for 10,000 metres in 2023; a bronze for the 1,500 metres in 2019, and silver in 2022. She is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist in the women's 5,000 metres. She is a two-time World Indoor Championship 1,500 m medallist, claiming bronze in 2016 and gold in 2022. She is also the world indoor record holder for the 1,500 m, setting previously in this event world under-18 (current) and U20 (former) records.

At age 16, Tsegay represented Ethiopia in the 1500 m at the 2014 World Indoor Championships. That same year, the 17-year-old won the silver medal in the discipline at the World U20 Championships. She is a versatile runner. As of Sept 2023, she was the world's 10th fastest woman in the indoor 800 metres, first in the 5,000 m and third in the 10,000 metres.

Personal life
Gudaf Tsegay comes from the Tigray Region in northern Ethiopia. She is married to Hiluf Yihdego, who is also her coach.

Career
In February 2014, 16-year-old Tsegay set the world's fastest under-18 mark in the indoor 1,500 metres with a time of 4:08.47 in Stockholm. In July, she became the World U20 Championship silver medallist in Eugene, Oregon, clocking 4:10.83 behind her compatriot Dawit Seyaum in 4:09.86.

Two years later, Tsegay broke the world U20 indoor record in this event with a time of 4:01.81 in Glasgow, beating previous best set by compatriot Kalkidan Gezahegne in 2010 by more than a second. Tsegay's record was bettered in 2020 by her another compatriot Lemlem Hailu. At the World Indoor Championships held in Portland, Oregon, she won the bronze medal in 4:05.71 behind only Sifan Hassan representing the Netherlands (4:04.96) and Dawit (4:05.30). The then 19-year-old represented Ethiopia in the 800 metres at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where she was eliminated in her heat, clocking 2:00.13.

In 2017, she competed at the London World Championships and went out of the 1,500 m event in the semi-finals. She fell after the first lap and posted the slowest time, slower by about 13 seconds than that ran in the heats.

At the following World Championships in 2019 in Doha, Qatar, Tsegay won the bronze medal in the event with a personal best time of 3:54.38. Hassan was first in 3:51.95 while Kenya's Faith Kipyegon finished second in 3:54.22.

The next year, she earned her first overall 1500 m World Indoor Tour victory, winning races at the Copernicus Cup in Toruń, Poland, Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais in Liévin, France and Villa de Madrid in Spain.

2021: World indoor 1500 m record
On 9 February, Tsegay broke the world indoor 1500 m record at the Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais (FR). The former mark of 3:55.17 set by her compatriot Genzebe Dibaba in 2014 was lowered by Tsegay to 3 minutes 53.09 seconds.

In June, she posted best time of the year for the 5,000 metres with her mark of 14:13.32 to take a bronze at the event in 14:38.87 at the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Hassan came first in 14:36.79 while Kenya's Hellen Obiri was second clocking 14:38.36.

2022: World indoor 1500 m champion, and world outdoor 5,000 m champion & 1,500 m silver medallist
In February 2022, Tsegay contested the mile in Liévin. After falling on the first lap, she finished in 4:21.72, missing Dibaba's world record of 4:13.31 but breaking the 20-year-old meeting record. A few days later, chasing her own world indoor record over 1,500 m at the Copernicus Cup in Poland, she was only 1.68 seconds behind, securing the second-fastest mark on the world indoor all-time list. She comfortably took her second overall World Indoor Tour 1,500 m victory eight days later at the Villa de Madrid Indoor Meeting, producing another record-breaking 3:57.38, the fifth-fastest result in turn on the world all-time indoor ranking.

Also in March, Tsegay continued her record-breaking form, dominating in her specialist event at the World Indoor Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia. She took her first global title, setting a championship record of 3:57.19 and winning by more than five seconds (~30 m). She led an Ethiopian medals sweep as Axumawit Embaye and Hirut Meshesha finished second and third, respectively. It was the first time one country swept the medals in any discipline, and the seventh successive Ethiopian women's victory in the event, at the World Athletics Indoor Championships.

Her best success of that year came in July at the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, where she won two medals including her first global outdoor title. First the 25-year-old took silver in the 1,500 m event, finishing behind only Faith Kipyegon and ahead of Laura Muir. Five days later, she claimed the gold medal for the closely-run 5,000 m race with a time of 14:46.29, ahead of Beatrice Chebet in 14:46.75 and compatriot Dawit Seyaum (14:47.36).

Tsegay doubled up at the Diamond League final in Zürich in September, placing third in the 5 kilometres road race and sixth in the 1,500 m event.

2023–present
She got her 2023 campaign off to strong start in February, running indoor mile in Toruń (PL). Tsegay missed the world record but her time of 4:16.16 was the second-fastest ever at the time. The same month, she came within just 0.09 seconds of Dibaba's world indoor 3000 m record, clocking super fast 8:16.69 at the World Indoor Tour final in Birmingham. At the final Diamond League event in Eugene, Oregon, the U.S. (September 17), she set a new world record on 5000 m with the time 14:00.21.

On 25 May 2024, at the Prefontaine Classic, Tsegay made an attempt to break the 10,000 metres world record of 29:01.03 set by Letesenbet Gidey of Ethiopia in 2021. However, Tsegay was closely followed by Kenyan athlete Beatrice Chebet, who made a surge with three laps to go while Tsegay fell behind. Chebet ended up finishing in a new world record time of 28:54.14, while Tsegay still finished in a personal best time of 29:05.92.

Circuit wins and titles, National titles

 * Diamond League 5000 metres champion: Diamond_League_plain_icon.svg 2023
 * 2018: Stockholm Bauhaus-galan (1500 m, )
 * 2023: Rabat Meeting International (1500 m, ), London Anniversary Games (5000 m, MR PB), Eugene Prefontaine Classic (5000 m, WR)
 * World Athletics Indoor Tour 1500 m overall winner: 2020, 2022
 * 2020 (1500m): Toruń Copernicus Cup, Liévin Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais, Villa de Madrid
 * 2021: Liévin (1500m, ), Villa de Madrid (3000m)
 * 2022: Liévin (Mile, ), Toruń (1500m, WL MR), Madrid (1500m, MR)
 * 2023: Toruń (Mile, WL MR), Liévin (1500m, WL), Birmingham World Indoor Tour Final (3000m, WL MR)
 * Ethiopian Athletics Championships
 * 5000 metres: 2021