Yalemzerf Yehualaw is a 22-year-old Ethiopian long-distance runner. She began running when she was 12 years old at her school where she won a 3000m race. She continued to compete and win in cross-country, track, and road in the Amhara region. Her talent was recognized and the Ethiopian Athletics Federation Academy system in Addis Ababa recruited her for training.
She won the Haspa Marathon in Hamburg with a time of 2:17:23, making her the fastest ever in a women’s marathon debut. She also broke the Ethiopian record, German all-comers’ record, and ranked sixth in the women’s world marathon all-time list. In addition, she is the 10K World Record Holder with a time of 29:14 in Castellon in February 2022.
She also won the 2022 Great Ethiopian Run in January. Yalemzerf is the second-fastest in the women’s marathon with a time of 1:03:51 for the Medio Maraton Valencia Trinidad Alfonso EDP, Valencia, in 2021. She came in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in half marathons and 10K races in Morocco, Poland, India, China, Spain, Turkey, Ireland, Ethiopia, and Germany.
