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By Essayas
Fessahaye (EAAA)
Apr 2, 2006, 10:48am
Eritrea shone with two best ever podium victories in the
12km and 8km men races and an almost all improved individual standings in
the 34 th IAAF World Cross Country Championships held this weekend
on1&2 April, 2006 in Japan.
Our first junior women team participation in 6km also proved to be more
than competitive by standing fourth. This has brought a stunning
promising future not only to our male athletes of different fields, but
also to all budding women athletes of the country as well. It won’t be a
distant prospect for our women athletes to jump on the podium similarly
in such ambitious and competitive scene. If today is better than
yesterday, tomorrow will be the best one. Just keep on holding and
believing in it.
Speaking on the phone to Mr. Beyene Russom, President of Eritrean
National Athletics Federation from Japan,
he said that the Eritrean National team was truly congratulated by IAAF
President Mr. Lamine Diack and many other important officials for beating
great teams like Ethiopia
for the first time and climbing twice on the podium.
Senior Men Long Race (12km)
Eritrea ranked SECOND – Silver Medal
4 - Zerisenay Tadesse Habteselassie (35.47)
7 - Yonas Kifle Andebrhan (36:05)
8 - Ali Abdalla Afringi (36:18)
9 - Tesfayohannes Mesfin Fissehatsion (36:18)
19 - Samson Kiflemariam Gashazghi (36:41)
Eritrea got its second and best ever ranking in this World Cross Country
Championships today, Sunday April 2, 2006 by standing second in 12km.
This was so through the hard work of the aforementioned five athletes.
Zerisenay, Yonas, Ali and Tesfayohannes stood within the top 10 to secure
this unique of its kind and great success. Through the past few years Eritrea was honored to line up together
with the best world long distance countries such as Ethiopia and Kenya. But this time, beaten
only by the first placed Kenyan athletes, our athletes overtook
Ethiopians that stood third following Eritrea for the first time in
history. Zerisenay Tadesse and Yonas Kifle were the backbone of the team.
But it was Ali Abdela and Tesfayohannes Mesfin who stole the show by
lining up within the first ten winners to mark this marvelous victory.
Hefty applause goes to Ali Abdela who participated in such World Cross
Country Championships for the first time in his career to follow Yonas
Kifle
to an eighth place. Incredible! Yonas repeated that of 2002’s World Cross
Country Championship in the same fashion by standing seventh for the
second time in four years.
It is to be recalled that last year Eritrea
stood fourth in France
in this field. Zerisenay individually stood second following Kenenisa
Bekele, then. The year 2004 marked the birth of Eritrean athletics for
being enlisted as the world’s new stage competitive country after
standing third and climbing on the podium for its first time in its
history.
Junior Men (8km)
Eritrea ranked THIRD – Bronze Medal
8 - Samuel Tsegai Tesfamariam 24:06
11 - Kidane Tadesse Habteselassie 24:21
12 - Kiflom Sium Weldemichael 24:22
14 - Teklemariam Medhin Weldeslasie 24:26
Our junior men athletes were simply dazzling to see them climb on the
podium as a third winning country in 8km from the world. Eritrea followed Kenya and Ethiopia. This was the team
that stood fifth last year in France. The experience they
got at that time made the athletes stride to a better stage victory.
Samuel Tsegay cracked into the list of top 10 winners by standing eighth.
Kidane Tadesse (Zerisenay Tadesse’s younger brother) stood 11 th followed
by Kiflom Sium 12th and Teklemariam Medhin 14th. Samuel cut on 9 places
to stand 8th from his last year’s 17th place. Kidane deducted 5 places
for a better performance of 11 th as Kiflom moved 6 places to stand an
improved 12th place. Samuel, Kidane and Kiflom have been preparing for
months in Spain
for this competition. For this reason, last year’s truly promising result
came up with bronze medal this year. Teklemariam Medhin, a new addition
to this team, needs to be credited for standing 14th in his first
international
race helping Eritrea earn its first ever medal in 8km.
Senior Men Short Race (4km)
Eritrea ranked TENTH
25 Habtai Kifletsion Keleta 11:21
26 Amanuel Weldeselassie Hagos 11:21
53 Hais Welday Ghebrat 11:33
69 Tesfai Felfele Yohannes 11:46
Habtai and Amanuel were the only experienced athletes in this field. Hais
and Tesfai accomplished their first international competition. Their
cumulative result made Eritrea
stand 10th. We need to consider that the first two athletes improved
their standings when compared with last year’s performance. But, here, Eritrea
slipped back to one place as a team.
Junior Women Race (6km)
Eritrea
ranked FOURTH
12 Meraf Bahta Ogbagaber
20 Elsa Medhanie Imesgen
25 Furtuna Zegergish Ghebreamlak
26 Weini Tedros Tesfay
Fourth place is totally far above the expectations made. It was for the
first time Eritrea
managed to line up a full women’s team in World Cross Country
Championships. This helped the team secure their best achievement as they
all ranged within the places of 12th and 26th. Last year, it was only
Meraf and Weini who lined up individually. They stood 32nd and 64th
consecutively. This year their number increased to four and there by was
considered as a team. Meraf improved a lot from last year’s Saint
Etienne-Saint Galmier Cross Country Championships that took place in France.
Meraf Bahta improved 20 spots to stand 12 th as Weini Tedros improved 38
spots to stand 26th. They were helped by Elsa Medhanie and Fortuna
Zegergish who were ranked 20th and 25th respectively. This astonishing
team worked made Eritrea
to be a future threat even in women races. Of all 19 athletes, Weini
Tedros has become the great jumper to stand 25th from 64th.
In another race, Simret Sultan had a change of heart as she decided to
participate in both women long race competition of 8 km and short race of
4 km late in Fukouka,
Japan.
She was surprising to place herself 17th in the 8 km competition, but
faded in the 4 km race that took part the day after. Kokob Mehari who
took part in the short distance race is a youngster who got a lesson for
a future possible surprise.
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