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Kenya’s Hellen Obiri, who beat the Ethiopian to win the 2023 New York City Marathon, was among the first athletes to congratulate Letesenbet 

By Haileegziabher Adhanom Degefa, Special Correspondent, Addis Ababa

Just days after celebrating her 27^th birthday, Ethiopia’s former world champion and record holder Letesenbet Gidey has celebrated another achievement – the birth of her first child.

“Grateful for the birth of my son,” Letesenbet posted on Facebook on Monday, the post accompanied by a photograph of the star holding the newborn boy with her husband, Fesseha Kiros, standing next to her.

Letesenbet wedded Fesseha in May last year in Mekelle, the seat of the Tigray regional Administration, in Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church traditions. 

This was after she had parted ways with her long time trainer, Haile Eyasu, almost two years ago. Haile started training her from school. 

The former world half marathon and 10,000 metres record holder then moved her base from Addis to Mekele in the Tigray region, some 800 kilometres away from the Ethiopian capital.

It was last year, just before Team Ethiopia for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games was announced, that news of Letesenbet’s marriage surfaced in social media outlets from Mekele, the athlete always keeping her personal life very private.

Letesnbet was not in the Ethiopian team to Paris.

At the 2023 New York Marathon, Letesenbet finished second to Kenya’s Hellen Obiri.

Obiri was among the first athletes to congratulate Letesenbet for being a new mother.

“Dear friend and competitor, congratulations on the arrival of your precious baby!,” Obiri, who is preparing for the April 21 Boston Marathon at which she will be chasing a third straight victory, said on Monday evening.

“Wishing you and your family a lifetime of joy, love and happiness as you embark on this wonderful journey of parenthood. Hope to see you soon  in the world of sports.”

Letesenbet’s decorated teammate at NN Running Team, Kenya’s Geoffrey Kamworor, and Uganda’s 2020 Olympics steeplechase gold medalist, Peruth Chemutai, were among athletes from the region who congratulated the Ethiopian star.

“Congratulations Letesenbet Gidey for the great gift,” Kamworor posted.

One of Letesenbet’s final major track appearances was last year’s Wanda Diamond League meeting in Suzhou, China, in April where she finished third in the 5,000m race (14:37.13) behind compatriots Mekedes Alemeshete (14:36.70) and Ayal Dagnachew (14:36.86).

Letesnbet is a popular athlete who, at the 2023 World Athletics Awards Gala, won the International Fair Play Award after she returned to comfort NN Running Team friend and Olympic champion Sifan Hassan after the Dutch athlete had fallen dramatically in the final moments of that final when leading the 10,000m at the World Championships in Budapest.

Letesenbet skipped any celebrations after bagging silver to first console her friend and long-time challenger to win the Fair Play Award that recognized the sportsmanship and empathy she showed.

A talented athlete on the road, track and cross country, Letesenbet was born in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, she first made her mark internationally in 2015 snaring the women’s Under-20 title at the World Cross Country Championships in Guiyang, China, before retaining the title two years later in Kampala.

In 2019 she made a huge breakthrough in the senior ranks, taking bronze at the World Cross Country Championships before banking 10,000m silver at the World Championships in Doha.

She ended her top quality competitive year by offering a tantalising glimpse into her outstanding ability to excel on the road – obliterating the world 15km record by one minute and 17 seconds to run 44:20 in Nijmegen.

In 2020 Letesenbet captured the second world record of her career by lowering the women’s 5000m by more than four-and-a-half seconds, recording 14:06.62 at the NN Valencia World Record Day.

Her success has continued in 2021. In Hengelo in June, Letesebet added the world 10,000m record to her growing collection, posting 29:01.03 to erase the two-day old mark set in the same stadium by Sifan Hassan. The Ethiopian also claimed 10,000m bronze at the Tokyo Olympic Games.

On her NN Running Team debut the Ethiopian climaxed her 2021 campaign by producing a jaw-dropping display of brilliance in Valencia to dismantle the world half-marathon record by a staggering 70-second margin, recording a time of 1:02:52. In 2022, Gidey continued her rise becoming 10,000m world champion at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon. The athlete finished the year by making her marathon debut in Valencia running the fastest marathon debut ever in 2:16:49.

One year later, in 2023, Letesenbet travelled to Budapest for the World Athletics Championships. Here she finished second in the 10.000m in 31:28.16 taking home the silver medal. In what was only her second career race over the 42.2km distance, she climaxed her competitive year by placing second in the TCS New York City Marathon, recording 2:27:29. (With additional reporting from NN Running Team resources)