A superstar on the track, the Ethiopian with the beautifully rhythmic running style hopes to make the same impact on the roads.

Already a world U20 champion on the cross country and track, in 2012 she became a world indoor 1500m champion, and two years later set a staggering three world indoor records with a two-week period in 2014 – 1500m (3:55.17), 3000m (8:16.60) and two miles (9:00.48) – before going on to claim the world indoor 3000m title in Sopot.

The following year the gifted Genzebe set the world indoor 5000m record of 14:18.86 in Stockholm, posted a stunning new world outdoor 1500m mark of 3:50.07 in Monaco before adding the world outdoor 1500m crown with an exhilarating performance in Beijing.

In 2016 she retained her world indoor 3000m title in Portland, set a world indoor mile record in Stockholm (4:13.31) and claimed Olympic 1500m silver in Rio. She plundered another world indoor record over 2000m (5:23.75) in Sabadell in 2017 before achieving a brilliant 1500m and 3000m double at the 2018 World Indoor Championships in Birmingham. 

More latterly moving to the roads in 2020 she ran a lightning fast 1:05:18 to win the Valencia Half Marathon. On her marathon debut in 2022 she registered an electric 2:18:05 to finish second in the Amsterdam Marathon. In 2023 she placed a solid sixth in the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, clocking 2:21:47.

Did you know?

Genzebe’s elder sister is three-time Olympic champion, Tirunesh.