Eyerusalem Kuma (born 7 September 1981 in Addis Ababa) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner, who competes in marathons.
At the beginning of her career, she specialized in the track running and cross-country running. Her first international appearances came in 2000, when she was seventh in the junior race at the 2000 IAAF World Cross Country Championships and achieved the same placing over 5000 metres at the 2000 World Junior Championships in Athletics. She made her senior debut the following year at the 2001 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, coming 23rd in the long race and helping Ethiopia to the team silver medal.[1] Kuma made her first impact the year after, as her fifth place in the long race at the 2002 IAAF World Cross Country Championships headed her country to the team title and she claimed the bronze medal over 10,000 metres at the 2002 African Championships in Athletics (behind Kenyan duo Susan Chepkemei and Leah Malot).[2]
At the 2003 IAAF World Cross Country Championships she had her highest placing, coming fourth and taking the team title with medalists Werknesh Kidane and Merima Denboba.[1] She also made it an Ethiopian 1–2 in the 10,000 metres at the 2003 Afro-Asian Games, where she was runner-up to Ejegayehu Dibaba.[3] In spite of a poor showing at the 2004 World Cross Country,[1] she won her first major title at the 2004 African Championships in Athletics, defeating all comers to take the 10,000 m gold medal.[2] Kuma set her 10,000 m personal best that year in Utrecht, Netherlands, running a time of 31:25.46 minutes. This also translated to success on the roads: she came sixth at the 2004 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships and led a team of Bezunesh Bekele and Teyba Erkesso to the gold medal.[1] She ran sparingly in 2005 and had a break in her running career until 2009.
Eyerusalam made a return to competition by making her debut over the marathon distance in 2009 at the Dubai Marathon, where her time of 2:26:51 hours brought her sixth place.[4] On her second outing over the distance, she won the 2009 Amsterdam Marathon. She achieved a half marathon personal best of 1:10.42 hours in the process of a runner-up placing at the Great Scottish Run in Glasgow.[1] She managed only eighth at the Prague Marathon in 2010, but on her return to Amsterdam she was the runner-up in a time of 2:27:04 hours.[5][6] She ran at the 2011 Paris Marathon and came fourth.[7] In her third straight appearance at the Amsterdam Marathon she ran a personal best of 2:24:55 hours, but was again the runner-up as she finished behind fellow Ethiopian Tiki Gelana.[8]
Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Representing Ethiopia | |||||
2000 | World Junior Championships | Santiago, Chile | 7th | 5000 m | |
2001 | World Cross Country Championships | Oostende, Belgium | 2nd | Team | |
2002 | World Cross Country Championships | Dublin, Ireland | 5th | Long race | |
1st | Team | ||||
African Championships | Radès, Tunisia | 3rd | 10,000 m | ||
2003 | World Cross Country Championships | Lausanne, Switzerland | 4th | Long race | |
1st | Team | ||||
10th | Short race | ||||
2004 | African Championships | Brazzaville, Congo | 1st | 10,000 m | |
World Half Marathon Championships | New Delhi, India | 6th | Half marathon | ||
2009 | Amsterdam Marathon | Amsterdam, Netherlands | 1st | Marathon |
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