Dino Sefir
Personal information
Born (1988-05-28) May 28, 1988 (age 35)
Height1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight61 kg (134 lb)
Sport
Country Ethiopia
SportAthletics
EventMarathon

Dino Sefir Kemal (born 28 May 1988) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner. He was one of three members of the Ethiopian team who competed in the marathon at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom.[1][2] He qualified with a time of 2:04:50 at the 2012 Dubai Marathon,[3] one of the top five personal records among the marathon entrants at the 2012 Olympics.[2] He is coached by Renato Canova.[4]

Career

Born in the Shewa region of Ethiopia,[5] Dino made his first impact internationally with a bronze medal in the 5000 metres at the 2007 African Junior Athletics Championships, finishing behind Mathew Kisorio and Dejen Gebremeskel.[6] He travelled abroad for the first time in 2008 and set a best of 13:11.69 minutes for the distance at the Golden Spike Ostrava.[7]

He broke through as a senior athlete in 2009, winning the Lotto Cross Cup de Hannut and finishing runner-up at the Cross Ouest France.[8] He gained his first major international selection as a result and placed 15th at the 2009 IAAF World Cross Country Championships. He was runner-up over 5000 metres at the Ethiopian Athletics Championships and set a best of 28:39 minutes for the 10K run at the World 10K Bangalore at the end of the year. The focus of his 2010 season was a move up to the marathon distance, but he made only a modest debut at the low-key Maratón de Castellón, finishing eighth in a time of 2:20:36 hours.[7]

Third place at the Jan Meda Cross Country saw him chosen for the 2011 IAAF World Cross Country Championships and there he shared in the team silver medal with Ethiopia through his twelfth-place finish. A month later he won the Humarathon half marathon race with a course record of 59:42 minutes – a time which established him among the world's top road runners.[9] He was very active in May: he won the 15 km du Puy-en-Velay, placed second at the national championships in the 10,000 m, then finished third at the Ottawa Marathon with a much improved best of 2:10:33 hours.[7] Dino made his senior track debut at September's 2011 All-Africa Games and set a new personal best of 28:23.40 minuties for the 10,000 m, but did not win a medal.[10]

Dino's run at the 2013 Dubai Marathon raised him to eighth place in the all-time marathon lists, as he was runner-up to Ayele Abshero with a time of 2:04:50 hours – this was the second fastest non-winning time at that point.[11][12] He was selected for the Ethiopian marathon team at the 2012 Olympic Games, but he could not repeat his earlier form and dropped out of the Olympic race.[13]

His next marathon outing came at the 2013 Tokyo Marathon, but his time of 2:09:13 hours saw him finish eighth in the field.[14] Dino took victory at the Nice Half Marathon that April.[15] He did not perform well in the rest of the season, finishing 14th in Bangalore and tenth at the Portugal Half Marathon and Falmouth Road Race. He entered the Frankfurt Marathon, but was some way off his best, recording 2:09:22 hours for seventh.[16]

He won the 2016 Barcelona Marathon recording 2:09:03 hours, on 13 March.[17]

Competition record

Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
2007 African Junior Championships Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso 3rd 5000 metres
2009 World Cross Country Championships Amman, Jordan 15th Senior race
2011 World Cross Country Championships Punta Umbría, Spain 12th Senior race
2011 World Cross Country Championships Punta Umbría, Spain 3rd Team race
2011 All-Africa Games Maputo, Mozambique 5th 10,000 metres
2012 Olympic Games London, United Kingdom DNF Marathon

Personal bests

References

  1. ^ BBC Sport Olympics: Dino Sefir Retrieved on 2010-08-02.
  2. ^ a b 2012 Olympics entry list by event, track and field, as of July 27, 2012 Retrieved on 2010-08-02.
  3. ^ IAAF athlete bio Retrieved on 2010-08-02.
  4. ^ Renato Canova interview Retrieved on 2010-08-02.
  5. ^ Dino Sefir Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine. Demadonna. Retrieved on 2013-05-06.
  6. ^ African Junior Championships 2007 Archived 2014-04-07 at the Wayback Machine. World Junior Athletics History. Retrieved on 2013-05-06.
  7. ^ a b c Dino Sefer. Tilastopaja. Retrieved on 2013-05-06.
  8. ^ Hendrix, Ivo (2009-01-25). Sefer and Wangari take impressive XC victories in Hannut. IAAF. Retrieved on 2013-05-06.
  9. ^ Sugnot, Frédéric (2012-04-06). L’an « n’œuf » pour l’Humarathon . l'Humanité. Retrieved on 2013-05-06.
  10. ^ 2011 Maputo All-Africa Games results Archived 2012-03-31 at the Wayback Machine. TunisAthle. Retrieved on 2013-05-06.
  11. ^ Butcher, Pat (2012-01-27). Abshero stuns with 2:04:23 debut, Mergia clocks 2:19:31 in Dubai. IAAF. Retrieved on 2013-05-06.
  12. ^ All-time Men's Marathon. IAAF. Retrieved on 2013-05-06.
  13. ^ Dino Sefir Archived 2013-04-30 at the Wayback Machine. London2012. Retrieved on 2013-05-06.
  14. ^ Results 2013 Tokyo Marathon Man. (in Japanese). Tokyo Marathon. Retrieved on 2013-03-09.
  15. ^ April 2013 Results Archived 2014-05-01 at the Wayback Machine. AIMS. Retrieved on 2013-05-06.
  16. ^ Wenig, Jörg (2013-10-27). Kipruto and Kilel make it a Kenyan double at Frankfurt Marathon. IAAF. Retrieved on 2013-11-02.
  17. ^ ARA Newspaper Dino Sefir i Valerary Jemeli Aiyabei guanyen la Marató de Barcelona

External links

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