World record-holder Tsegay leads Ethiopian 1500m medal sweep in Belgrade

In the end, the long and winding road to global gold finished with a relative stroll for Gudaf Tsegay on day two of the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.

The 25-year-old led an Ethiopian clean sweep of the medals in the women’s 1500m final, the first by any nation in any event in world indoor history, with a gun-to-tape victory that also eclipsed the championship record.

That stood at 3:59.75 to Gelete Burka, whose 2008 victory in Valencia launched a run of what now stands at seven successive victories by Ethiopian-representing or Ethiopian-born women.

That Tsegay consigned it to history without showing the slightest hint of strain until the bell sounded underlined the unparalleled class of the world indoor record-holder.

Tsegay was a woman apart from the off, shooting into the lead with a 30.60 first lap, passing 400m in 61.85 and some 10 metres ahead of the field as she breezed past 800m in 2:06.18.

By then, 2014 silver medallist Axumawit Embaye and African Games champion Hirut Meshesha had clear daylight in second and third.

Tsegay forged on, some way short of full throttle, crossing the line in 3:57.19. Embaye took another silver, clocking 4:02.29, with Meshesha claiming bronze in 4:03.39 – ahead of Ugandan Winnie Nanyondo (4:04.60) and Josette Norris of the US (4:04.71).

For Tsegay, the 2014 world U20 silver medallist, it ended a run of three senior global bronze medal finishes, having placed third in the 2016 world indoor 1500m final, the 2019 world outdoor final in Doha and also in the 5000m at the Tokyo Olympics last year.

Unbeaten at all distances indoors since 2019, the new Ethiopian golden girl has not lost a 1500m race indoors or outdoors since the 2019 outdoor world final in Doha, when she finished third behind Sifan Hassan and Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon. 

Her last indoor defeat at the distance dates back to 10 February 2018, when she placed third in the World Indoor Tour event in Boston.

With her latest victory she has extended the winning Ethiopian influence to a seventh championship, following in the footsteps of her compatriots Burka (2008), Kalkadin Gezahenge (2010), Genzebe Dibaba (2018 and 2012) and the naturalised Swede Abebe Aregawi (2014) and naturalised Netherlander Hissan (2016).

Simon Turnbull for World Athletics