Helen Bekele Tola

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Helen Bekele Tola
Image of a woman in running kit
Tola during the 2019  [fr]
Personal information
Born (1994-11-21) 21 November 1994 (age 26)
Ethiopia
Sport
SportAthletics
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Medal record
Marathon
World Marathon Majors
Silver medal – second place 2019 Tokyo Marathon

Helen Bekele Tola (born 21 November 1994) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner. She finished second at the 2019 Tokyo Marathon and has won the Annecy and Barcelona Marathons, as well as multiple other long-distance events. Born in Ethiopia, she now lives in Switzerland.

Personal life[]

Helen Bekele Tola was born in Ethiopia. In 2005, she moved to Geneva, Switzerland.[1] Tola is married to Tesfaye Eticha, who competed for Switzerland at the 2012 Summer Olympics.[1]

Career[]

Tola competes for the Stade Geneva athletics club.[2] In 2015, Tola won the Lausanne Marathon,[3] and the Basel  [de], a 5.9 kilometres (3.7 mi) race around the city.[4] In 2016, Tola won the Annecy Marathon, breaking the course record by over three minutes.[5] In the same year, she came second at the Lake Maggiore Half Marathon in a time of 1:15:37.[6] In 2017, she won the Barcelona Marathon in a course record time of 2:25:04. It was over four minutes better than her previous personal best.[7][8] In the same year, she won the  [de] half-marathon event in a course record time of 1:09:47.[9] In 2018, Tola came second at the 10 km Corrida de Houilles race,[10] sixth at the Berlin Marathon,[11] and ninth at the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon.[12]

In 2019, Tola finished second at the Tokyo Marathon, in a personal best time of 2:21:01.[11][13] She also finished fourth at the Berlin Marathon,[1] and was in the leading group of four racers, alongside eventual winner Ashete Bekere, Mare Dibaba, and Sally Chepyego Kaptich, for most of the race.[14] She finished in 2:21:36, 25 seconds slower than her personal best.[15] Later in the year, Tola won the 17.7 kilometres (11.0 mi)  [de] race from Murten to Fribourg in a course record time of 57:50. She broke Franziska Rochat-Moser's 22 year old previous record by over a minute.[16][17][18] She also won the 10 km race at the Lausanne Marathon,[1] the 10 km San Silvestre Vallecana, in a personal best time of 30:47,[13] and the Scalata al Castello 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) race in Arezzo, Italy.[19]

In 2020, Tola won the Madrid 10k Run, beating pre-race favourite Ruth Chepng'etich. She finished in 30:50, the fourth fastest ever time at the event.[20] Later in the year, she came second at a Berlin 10k invitational event; her time of 30:59 was the fifth fastest time of the year.[21] She also won the 10,000 metres event at the Swiss Athletics Championships as a guest runner,[22] and came fourth in the one hour run race of the Memorial Van Damme Diamond League event.[23] In 2021, Tola won the Belp Marathon.[24]

Tola has also won the road race at the Escalade de Genève on four occasions.[15] Tola expressed a desire to represent Switzerland at the 2020 Summer Olympics.[1]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e "HELEN BEKELE TOLA ET SIMONE TROXLER, DESTIN CROISÉ DE SUISSESSES". Le Multimedia.info (in French). 29 October 2019. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  2. ^ "François Leboeuf : "Tout à coup, Helen Bekele était à côté de moi !"". Athle.ch (in French). 10 October 2019. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  3. ^ "Résultats 2015" (in French). Lausanne Marathon. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
  4. ^ "Äthiopierin überrascht am Stadtlauf". Telebasel (in German). 28 November 2015. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  5. ^ "Marathon d'Annecy : Kennedy Lagat Kipyego et Helen Bekele-Tola victorieux" (in French). Marathons.fr. 17 April 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  6. ^ "Strada, la domenica di corsa". Italian Athletics Federation (in Italian). 7 March 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  7. ^ "Bekele breaks Barcelona course record". World Athletics. 12 March 2017. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  8. ^ "Récord femenino de Helen Bekele en la Zurich Marató de Barcelona". Carreras Populaires (in Spanish). 12 March 2017. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  9. ^ "Streckenrekord beim "Switzerland Marathon light"". Luzerner Zeitung (in German). 3 September 2017. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  10. ^ "Corrida de Houilles : Wanders améliore son record d'Europe du 10 km". French Athletics Federation (in French). 31 December 2018. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b "Premierensieg für Ruti Aga in Tokio" (in German). Run Austria. 4 March 2019. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  12. ^ "RAK Half Marathon am 9. Februar 2018: Wieder eine Flut von Fabelzeiten im Emirat" (in German). Run.hwinter.de. 9 February 2018. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b "Helen Bekele Tola y Bashir Abdi, campeones en Vallecas". ABC (in Spanish). 31 December 2019. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  14. ^ "Kenenisa Bekele misses out on world record by two seconds at Berlin Marathon". The Guardian. 29 September 2019. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  15. ^ Jump up to: a b "Marathon de Berlin : Kenenisa Bekele frôle le record du monde, Helen Bekele Tola finit excellente 4e". Athlet.ch (in French). 29 September 2019. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  16. ^ "Helen Bekele Tola dynamite le record de Morat-Fribourg". Tribune de Genève (in French). 6 October 2019. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  17. ^ "Helen Bekele Tola lief neuen Streckenrekord". Der Murternbieter (in German). 8 October 2019. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  18. ^ "Victoire et record pour Helen Bekele". La Liberté (in French). 6 October 2019. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  19. ^ "Nouvelle victoire pour Helen Bekele Tola". Athlet.ch (in French). 27 May 2019. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  20. ^ "Chepngetich Beaten In Madrid 10k Run". 98.4 Capital FM. 1 January 2020. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  21. ^ "Top-Zeiten und Bestzeiten-Hagel". Runner's World (in German). 26 September 2020. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  22. ^ "Abi Galpin among winners as traditional athletics returns to British Isles – weekly round-up". Athletics Weekly. 29 June 2020. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  23. ^ "One Hour Women" (PDF) (pdf). Diamond League. 4 September 2020. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  24. ^ "Maratona, Fabienne Schlumpf da record". Radiotelevisione svizzera (in Italian). 3 April 2021. Retrieved 19 April 2021.

External links[]

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