Diribe Welteji to kick-start her season in Astana on Saturday

Addis Ababa, January 25, 2024 (FBC) – Ethiopia’s Diribe Welteji will make her track debut in a mile race at the Astana Indoor Meet for Amin Tuyakov Prizes – the first ever World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold event in Asia – on Saturday (27).

After breaking the world record to win the mile title at the World Athletics Road Running Championships Riga 23 in October, Ethiopia’s Diribe Welteji will race the distance on the track for the first time in Astana.

The 21-year-old, who also claimed 1500m silver at the World Championships in Budapest last year, clocked 4:20.98 to win in Riga and improve on the inaugural road mile record.

During the last World Indoor Tour season, she ran a PB of 8:33.44 to win the 3000m in Lievin.

Taking on the world champion in Astana will be her Ethiopian compatriot Axumawit Embaye, the two-time world indoor 1500m silver medallist, plus Kazakhstan’s national 3000m steeplechase champion Daisy Jepkemei.

Fast times are also on the cards in the men’s 3000m as Ethiopia’s two-time world indoor 1500m champion and former world record-holder Samuel Tefera goes up against his compatriot Getnet Wale, the Olympic 3000m steeplechase fourth-place finisher who clocked 7:24.98 for 3000m in Lievin in 2021.

As this year’s opening World Indoor Tour Gold meeting, many athletes will begin their 2024 campaigns in Astana, the capital city of Kazakhstan. A total of seven Gold meetings feature on the World Indoor Tour calendar, with wild card entries for the World Athletics Indoor Championships Glasgow 24 on offer.