Yonas Kifle

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Yonas Kifle
Kifle at the 2009 London Marathon
Personal information
NationalityEritrean
Born (1977-11-05) November 5, 1977 (age 46)
Adi Bilay, Ethiopia
Height1.66 m (5 ft 5+1⁄2 in)
Weight62 kg (137 lb)
Sport
Country Eritrea
SportAthletics
EventMarathon
Updated on 22 July 2012

Yonas Andebrhan Kifle (born 5 November 1977)

cross-country running. He has represented Eritrea at the Olympics on four occasions; in 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012. He has also competed at World Championship-level in cross country, road running
, and on the track indoors and outdoors.

He was the bronze medallist in the half marathon at the 2007 All-Africa Games and the 2005 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships. His personal bests include 59:30 minutes for the half marathon and 2:07:34 hours for the marathon (an Eritrean record).

Career

Kifle was born in

2000 Sydney Olympics. He began to improve from the 2002 season onwards: he was eighth in the long race at the 2000 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, fourth at the 2002 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships with a time of 1:01:05 hours, and came sixth over 5000 m at the 2002 African Championships in Athletics.[3] He also won the Cursa de Bombers
10K in Spain that year.

Kifle was injured in the 2003 season, but came back in 2004 with a top ten finish at the

2004 Athens Olympics. He was eleventh in the 10,000 m at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics and won his first major individual medal with a third-place finish at the 2005 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships. He made the top ten at both the 2006 IAAF World Cross Country Championships and 2006 IAAF World Road Running Championships.[4] He had some of his best half marathon performances in 2007, including a bronze medal at the 2007 All-Africa Games and set a significant personal best of 59:30 minutes to take fifth at the 2007 IAAF World Road Running Championships.[3]

On his marathon debut, he was fifth at the 2007 Amsterdam Marathon with a personal best time of 2:07:34 hours – an Eritrean record.[5] At the 2008 London Marathon he ran a time of 2:08:51 for seventh place.[6]

Kifle attempted his first

2008 Beijing Games, but he could only manage 36th place overall. He was seventh for a second year running at the 2009 London Marathon having finished in 2:08:28.[7] He took part in the marathon at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics and was in contention up to the 30 km but he dropped out soon after and did not finish the race.[8][9]

He ran at the 2010 London Marathon and finished in ninth place with a time of 2:14:39, behind compatriot Zersenay Tadese.[10] Kifle was chosen to compete at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics, but he failed to finish the men's marathon race. He ran his best time since 2009 at the 2012 Seoul International Marathon (2:08:51) and he was the only non-Kenyan runner to feature in the top ten.[11] At the 2012 Summer Olympics he finished in 58th place.[12]

Achievements

Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
1999 World Indoor Championships Maebashi, Japan 13th 3000 m
World Championships Seville, Spain 13th (heats) 5000 m
2000 World Cross Country Championships Vilamoura, Portugal 61st Long race
Summer Olympics Sydney, Australia 14th (heats) 10,000 m
2001 World Cross Country Championships Ostend, Belgium 42nd Long race
World Championships Edmonton, Canada 10th (heats) 5000 m
2002 World Cross Country Championships Dublin, Ireland 8th Long race
African Championships Radès, Tunisia 6th 5000 m
World Half Marathon Championships Brussels, Belgium 4th Half marathon 1:01:05 PB
2004 World Cross Country Championships Brussels, Belgium 9th Long race
3rd Team competition
Summer Olympics Athens, Greece 16th 10,000 metres
World Half Marathon Championships New Delhi, India 11th Half marathon
2005 World Championships Helsinki, Finland 11th
10,000 m
 27:35.72 PB
World Half Marathon Championships Edmonton, Canada 3rd Half marathon
2006 World Cross Country Championships
Fukuoka, Japan
 7th Long race
2nd Team competition
World Road Running Championships Debrecen, Hungary 10th 20 km Individual
2nd 20 km Team
2007 All-Africa Games Algiers, Algeria 3rd Half marathon
World Road Running Championships Udine, Italy 7th Half marathon
2008 World Cross Country Championships Edinburgh, Scotland 20th Senior race
Summer Olympics Beijing, China 36th Marathon
2009 World Championships Berlin, Germany DNF
Marathon
2011 World Championships Daegu, South Korea DNF Marathon
2012 Summer Olympics London, United Kingdom 58th Marathon

Personal bests

References

  1. ^ Yonas Kifle Archived 2012-12-15 at the Wayback Machine. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2012-03-24.
  2. ^ 1999 World Indoor Championships - Men's 3000 metres Final Archived August 5, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. IAAF. Retrieved on 2012-03-24.
  3. ^ a b Kifle Yonas. IAAF. Retrieved on 2012-03-24.
  4. ^ John Manners (2007-10-12). Focus on Athletes - Yonas Kifle (ERI). IAAF. Retrieved on 2012-03-24.
  5. IAAF
    . Retrieved on 2010-04-28.
  6. IAAF
    . Retrieved on 2010-04-28.
  7. IAAF
    . Retrieved on 2010-04-28.
  8. IAAF
    (2009-08-22). Retrieved 2010-04-28.
  9. IAAF
    . Retrieved on 2010-04-28.
  10. IAAF
    . Retrieved on 2010-04-28.
  11. ^ Yelena Kurdyumova and Sergey Porada (2012-03-18). Loyanae cruises 2:05:37 to shatter course record in Seoul. IAAF. Retrieved on 2012-03-24.
  12. ^ "London 2012 - Men's Marathon". www.olympic.org. IOC. Retrieved 6 October 2014.

External links

Olympic Games
Preceded by Flagbearer for  Eritrea
Athens 2004 		Succeeded by
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