Former IAAF Athlete of the Year and World record-holder Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia is back in action on Thursday at the Spanish capital for the IAAF World Indoor Tour meeting on February 8.
Genzebe, who last year won the 1000m in Madrid with a national indoor record of 2:33.06, will contest the 1500m at this year’s meeting, the distance at which she holds the world record indoors and out.
The 2015 world champion will line up against 2014 world indoor silver medalist Axumawit Embaye of Ethiopia, European champion Angelika Cichocka of Poland, African silver medalist Malika Akkaoui of Morocco and Spanish duo Solange Andrea Pereira and Marta Perez.
Meanwhile, Adam Kszczot will be aiming to repeat his 800m victory from 2017. The Pole has won five continental titles at the distance – two outdoors and three indoors – and has earned silver medals at the past two World Championships. His indoor PB of 1:44.57 ranks him fourth on the world indoor all-time list.
Ethiopia’s 2013 world champion and two-time world indoor champion Mohamed Aman, who is ranked one place ahead of Kszczot on the world indoor 800m all-time list, will also be in Madrid, along with Spanish record-holder Kevin Lopez, European indoor bronze medalist Alvaro de Arriba, Daniel Andujar and Jesus Gonzalez.

An intricate cold blooded vengeance by head coach Gebremedin Haile over his former club Dedebit’s six match unbeaten run came to an end on Wednesday evening with a magnificent display at Addis Ababa stadium. Not only did they run away with three points from a 2-1 victory but Jimma AbaJifar crushed Dedebit’s far dream of a second title as well frustrating their goal machine Getaneh Kebede, who got a red card.
The visitors took by surprise the over confident Dedebit hammering in the opener through Temesgen G/Kidan followed by the second goal in the 17th minute from a long low drive by former Ethiopia Bunna wing man Yonas Giremew. Not only were there they early goals, the ball domination and the all-out attack; the first half game plan made the home side desperate in every way. “The Blues” were almost oblivious about what to do during the unexpected slaughter. Then there was Getaneh Kebede’s 21st minute red card for elbowing Henok Essayas.
Though a lackluster second half from both sides Dedebit tried to exploit the back tracking of the visitors but to no avail until the hour mark where defender Henok Adugna handed the ball in the box before the referee awarded a penalty to Dedebit and at the same time a red card to Henok.
Dedebit managed sending waves of long balls that made the visitors defense crazy and missed a few scoring chances. Jimma AbaBuna won 2-1 closing the gap to four points against the league leading Dedebit with 25 points from twelve matches.

Organizers of the 2018 Virgin Money London Marathon have confirmed that Tirunesh Dibaba and defending champion Daniel Wanjiru will return to the IAAF Gold Label road race on 22 April.
The 32-year-old Ethiopian, who has three Olympic gold medals and five World Championship victories to her name on the track, is the first major name confirmed for the elite women’s race.
Trunesh has twice appeared in London before and has improved with each performance. She made her marathon debut in London in 2014, finishing third in 2:20:35 before returning last year and coming second behind Mary Keitany in an Ethiopian record of 2:17:56, putting her third on the world all-time list behind Paula Radcliffe and Keitany.
She returned to the track last summer to win a silver medal in the 10,000m at the IAAF World Championships London 2017 before picking up her first marathon win at the Chicago Marathon in October (2:18:31).
That victory put her joint top of the Abbott World Marathon Majors (AWMM) Series XI leader board which started with last year’s Virgin Money London Marathon and concludes after this year’s race, counting the results of the World Championship marathon plus the marathons in Berlin, Chicago, New York, Tokyo and Boston in between. A win for Trunesh in London this year will ensure she would secure the AWMM Series XI title.

With the Premier League leaders losing points in the middle of the week and the mid-table teams gaining momentum, the race for the title is wide open. Dedebit leads the race with 25 points from 12 matches followed by Saint George with 21 points from 12 matches.
When Saint George tasted its first ever defeat at the hands of Wolayta Dicha last weekend, football fans noticed that Dedebit was the runaway league leader. Two days later visitng JimmaAbaJifar took everyone by surprise ending the leader’s six match winning streak, after a 2-1 away victory. Another twist took place on Thursday when bottom of the table, visiting Diredawa held the defending champions to a 1-1 draw in front of a packed crowed in Addis Ababa thus the Saint George dream of slashing the lead to two points puffed away into thin air. Abebaw Butako saved the day for The Horse Riders slotting the equalizer eight minutes before the final whistle.
After loosing only once in the past nine matches Gebremedin Haile’s Jimma Aba Jifar is emerging as a strong title contender currently sitting third in the table with 21 points from 13 matches. With seven goals to his name AbaJifar’s goal machine OkikiAfolabi was absent from Dedebit’s match but the team got away with a victory meaning AbaJifar has a squad seriously contemplating a strong title race.
With four wins and three draws in the past seven matches newly promoted side Mekele is also breathing hot fire into the title sitting fifth in the standings with 21 points from twelve matches. Mekele has beefed up their squad and could make a run in the second round.
Today’s biggest game is in Addis Ababab when Saint George hosts Adama currently fourth place with 21 points from 13 matches. A win for the visitors could make the title race even more interesting.