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ZERSENAY Tadese, Eritrea(5000/10,000m,
cross country)
Born 9 February 1982, Eritrea
 Coach:
Jeronimo Bravo
Until 2004, the world's best known Eritrean distance runner was an
American - Mebrahtom Keflezighi, winner of multiple US championships,
and surprise silver medallist in the 2004 Athens Olympic marathon. But
another surprise in Athens, in the 10,000m, made it clear that the small
East African country had begun to develop some of its talent at home.
Zersenay Tadese, who had started competitive running barely two years
before, collected an Olympic bronze medal for Eritrea, finishing behind
the formidable Ethiopian duo of Kenenisa Bekele and Sileshi Sihine (and
ahead of Haile Gebrselassie).
Since 2004, Zersenay has established himself as the pre-eminent
Eritrean-born distance runner with a series of brilliant performances in
his favoured range of 10km to Half Marathon, culminating in two world
titles—first, the World Road Running Championship, in Debrecen, Hungary,
in October 2006 (56:01 for 20km), and then, in one of the great upsets
of recent athletics history, the World Cross Country Championship, in
Mombasa, in March 2007, where he outlasted Kenenisa, winner of five Long
Course and Short Course doubles.
Zersenay’s first appearances on the international scene in 2002 were in
these same events: he finished a modest but creditable 30th in the World
Cross 12km, in Dublin in March, and 21st a few weeks later in the World
Half Marathon, in Brussels (63:05). He went on in August to finish 6th
in the 10,000m (28:47.29) at the African Championships, in Tunis.
The following winter he was something of a power on the European cross
country circuit. In six competitions he never finished worse than 3rd.
In the 12km at the 2003 World Cross Country Championships, in Lausanne,
he came in 9th.
Zersenay improved that position by one in the World Championship 5000m,
in Paris, setting a personal and national record 13:05.57, and improved
one more position (7th) in his next global competition in October, the
World Half Marathon Championship, in Vilamoura, Portugal (61:26).
In March of 2004 he bettered his placing yet again, taking 6th in the
12km at the World Cross Country Championships, in Brussels. And in a
low-key meeting in Spain, in June, he ran 10,000m in 27:32.61, another
personal and national best, beating an international field by nearly a
minute. So for anyone paying attention, Zersenay’s bronze medal in the
Olympic 10,000m (27:22.57, a ten-second PB in 30+ degree temperatures)
should not have been such a shock. Neither should his 7th (13:24.31) in
the Olympic 5000m eight days later.
The following spring, after a busy season on the Spanish cross country
and road circuit, he improved from bronze to silver in global
competition, taking 2nd behind Kenenisa in the 12km at the 2005 World
Cross Country Championships, in St. Etienne. His relentless progress up
the podium slipped at the World Championships, in Helsinki, where he
doubled, as he had in Athens. He finished a lowly 14th in the 5000m
(13:40.27), perhaps suffering the effects of the punishing 10,000m six
days earlier, where he notched a national record 27:12.82 but came in
only 6th. He improved the NR by eight seconds a few weeks later in
Brussels (27:04.70 for 7th), and since then he has been all but
unstoppable.
From September 2005, when he won the Great North Run Half Marathon, in
what was then a world record time (59:05), until now, he has finished
worse than 2nd only twice in 24 races of 9km or more. Those were his 4th
places in the 2006 World Cross Country Championships, in Fukuoka, and in
the 10,000m at the 2007 Osaka World Championships, in Osaka (27:21.37).
In addition to his victories in the 2006 World Road Running
Championships and the 2007 World Cross Country Championships, Zersenay’s
podium finishes in the last two years have included a 27-second win in
the 10,000m at the 2007 All Africa Games (27:00.30 in steamy Algiers),
and five 2nd places, including a national record 26:37.25 in the 2006
Brussels Golden League 10,000m behind Kenyan Micah Kogo’s world leading
26:35.63. Most recently, he scored a gun to tape victory in the Dam tot
Damloop 10 miles in the Netherlands, winning by 29 seconds in a PB
45:52.
In Udine, Zersenay defends his first World Championship over a distance,
the Half Marathon, at which he as always shone. He faces an unusually
strong squad from Kenya, which comprises four men who have bettered 60
minutes for the distance. Among them are last year’s WRRC silver
medallist, Robert Kipchumba and the world record holder, Samuel Wanjiru.
But Zersenay has already captured two world titles, and better than
anyone else in the race, he knows how to win at this level.
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