Mulu Seboka Seyfu (born 25 September 1984) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who competes mainly in marathons. She represented Ethiopia in the marathon at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics and in the half marathon at the 2006 IAAF World Road Running Championships. She has won marathons on four continents and holds a personal best of 2:21:56 hours.

Career

She had her first significant win at the Valencia Marathon in 2003. She dipped under two hours forty minutes for the distance at the Maratona di Sant'Antonio in 2004 and had her second win at the Mumbai Marathon a year later. She knocked over four minutes off her best at the 2005 London Marathon, recording 2:30:54 hours to place ninth. In 2006, she defended her Mumbai title and improved to 2:30:41 hours at the Nagoya Women's Marathon, finishing ninth at the high calibre race.[1] A personal best of 2:30:03.2 hours was enough to secure a third career win in Mumbai in 2008 and at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon she became the first woman to win in under two and a half hours, with her course record time of 2:29:05.9 hours.[2][3]

Mulu failed in her defence of her Toronto title, as compatriot Amane Gobena bettered her course record, leaving her as the runner-up.[4] She had three straight wins in the second half of 2010, topping the field at the Trierer Stadauf, City to Surf marathon, and the Melbourne Marathon. She competed mainly over shorter distances in 2011 and won at the Cincinnati Half Marathon, Savannah Half Marathon, and Tulsa Run.[1]

A run of 2:25:45 hours at the 2012 Dubai Marathon marked a four-minute improvement for her, although the fast race meant she was outside the top ten. She had runner-up finishes at the Daegu Marathon and Grandma's Marathon that year and won twice in Turkey, taking the Darıca Half Marathon and Istanbul 15K. She closed 2012 with her fastest win yet – 2:26:46 at the Guangzhou Marathon. She gave consistent marathon performances after this point: she recorded 2:23:43 hours as Daegu runner-up in 2013 then had a four-race unbeaten streak taking in the Jakarta Marathon, Dubai Marathon, Daegu Marathon and Toronto Waterfront Marathon.[5][6][7]

In 2015, she tried to defend her Dubai title, but in spite of a new best of 2:21:56 hours, she only finished in sixth place. She had fifth-place finishes at the 2015 Chicago Marathon and the 2016 Dubai Marathon.[1]

International competitions

YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventNotes
2005 World Championships Helsinki, Finland 48th Marathon 2:53:08
2006 World Half Marathon Championships Debrecen, Hungary 25th Half marathon 1:08:59

Circuit wins

Marathons

Other distances

Personal bests

References

  1. 1 2 3 Mulu Seboka Seyfu. Association of Road Racing Statisticians. Retrieved on 2016-04-02.
  2. ↑ Krishnan, Ram. Murali (2008-01-20). Kelai, Seboka take Mumbai Marathon titles. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-04-02.
  3. ↑ Another Dynamo: Ethiopia's Seboka Breaks Women's Course Record in Toronto Waterfront Marathon. Tadias (2008-9-29). Retrieved on 2016-04-02.
  4. ↑ Zorzi, Alberto (2009-09-27). Mungara Defends in Toronto with Canadian All Comers Record. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-04-02.
  5. ↑ Gains, Paul (2014-10-19). Korir and Seboka triumph in Toronto as weather ruins record attempts. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-04-02.
  6. ↑ Wenig, Jörg (2014-01-24). Teenager Mekonnen's stunning marathon debut win in Dubai . IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-04-02.
  7. ↑ Minshull, Phil (2014-04-06). Adhane captures course record in Daegu. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-04-02.
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