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.
Tirunesh added to London Marathon
Ethiopian Premier League gets interesting
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.
Dicha continues to excel under coach Zenebe
The emergence of relegation threatened Wolayta Dicha continues under newly appointed head coach Zenebe Fisha as Wolayta is on a five game winning streak under her tenure. Sacking Mesay Teferi despite his eight seasons of hard work was a hard decision because he had built a strong team out of the blue. Yet he only collected 5 points out of a possible 24. Since the change the team has earned 11 points out of 15. The 2-1 home victory over defending champion Saint George was just the icing on the cake.
It was not just a regular home win but a miraculous one. Now Dicha is in eighth place with 16 points out of 12 matches. Man of the match Bezabeh Meleyo’s double strike not only gave the home side a lifesaving three points but also destroyed Saint George’s ten match unbeaten run as well Ugandan goalie Robert Odungkara’s six match clean sheet.
Saint George has an army of the country’s best talent led by a seasoned head coach from Portugal and four foreign players including goalie Robert Odungkara. So the showdown against a recently upgraded assistant coach Zenebe commanding a rookie army of domestic players is a classical David against mighty Goliath scenario. Once again the skinny David led his people to safe passage with a sling.
Many suggested the promotion of Zenebe, who served as lieutenant for Mesay Teferi, made things easier because he knows the players as well the problems in the team. Converting to a four player defensive tactic, an attack minded first half game plan and the motivation he gave for the players to prove themselves to the fans are the deciding factors in Dicha’s historic comeback from a goal down.
Abel Tsega
Name: Abel Tsega
Education: University student
Company name: Fiker Film production
Title: Founder
Founded in: 2017
What it does: Film production, entertainment and music studio
HQ: Adama 01
Number of employees: 8
Startup Capital: 10,000 birr
Current capital: Growing
Reason for starting the business: Interest in producing film
Biggest perk of ownership: skill development
Biggest strength: Commitment
Biggest challenge: Peoples’ attitude towards dance and entertainment
Plan: To innovate and revolutionize the multimedia sector
First career: Dancer
Most interested in meeting: Teddy afro
Most admired person: None
Stress reducer: Listening music
Favorite past-time: Dancing
Favorite book: Dertogada
Favorite destination: Hollywood, USA
Favorite automobile: Ferrari
