Tirfi Tsegaye

Who is Tirfi Tsegaye?

Tirfi Tsegaye Beyene is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who competes in marathon races. She has won the Paris Marathon, the Tokyo Marathon, and the Dubai Marathon. Her personal best of 2:21:19 hours came as runner-up at the Berlin Marathon.

Born in Bekoji in Ethiopia's Oromia Region, she comes from a town renowned for producing world class runners such as Kenenisa Bekele and Tirunesh Dibaba. In one of her first major races, Tirfi won the Porto Marathon in 2008 with a time of 2:35:31 hours. She improved her best to 2:29:04 hours with a runner-up finish at the 2009 Turin Marathon and then bettered that with a run of 2:28:16 hours for second at the Shanghai Marathon. She also made her debut over the half marathon at the 2009 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships, where her run of 1:09:24 brought her sixth place and a team silver medal with Ethiopia.

Tirfi was runner-up to Atsede Baysa at the 2010 Paris Half Marathon, then finished behind her again at the Paris Marathon a month later, although Tirfi's time of 2:24:51 hours for third place was a significant personal best. She again made the podium at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon, setting another best of 2:22:44 hours and finishing second behind Sharon Cherop. She was also runner-up at the Shanghai Marathon for the second year running, beaten to the title by Nailiya Yulamanova.