Meselech Melkamu

Meselech Melkamu (Amharic: መሰለች መልካሙ; born 19 April 1985 in Debre Marqos) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner, who specializes in the 5000 metres, 10,000 metres and cross-country events. She defeated Meseret Defar to win the 5000 m gold medal at the 2008 African Athletics Championships but she is better known for her 29:53.80 run over 10,000 m which ranks her second on the all time list, behind only world record holder Wang Junxia. She is the fourth woman (of five) in history to break the 30 minute barrier and one of three Ethiopian's to accomplish the feat.

She made her breakthrough in the junior ranks in 2004 by winning at the 2004 IAAF World Cross Country Championships and then taking the 5000 m title at the 2004 World Junior Championships in Athletics. She just missed the senior medals in 2005, taking fourth in the short race at the 2005 World Cross Country Championships and also fourth in the 5000 m at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics. Her first major medals as a senior athlete came the following year as Melkamu won bronze medals in both the long and short races at the 2006 IAAF World Cross Country Championships (also winning two team golds). She went on to win the Great Ireland Run the following month.

She repeated her cross country bronze medal in 2007, helping the Ethiopian women the team gold again, and also won a silver medal on the track at the 2007 All-Africa Games, finishing as runner-up behind Meseret Defar in the 5000 m. She was sixth over that distance at the 2007 World Championships later that year. Melkamu won her first indoor medal over 3000 metres the following March, again taking the second spot behind Defar at the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships. She did not win a medal at the 2008 IAAF World Cross Country Championships (finishing in ninth place), but she excelled at the 2008 African Championships in Athletics by beating Defar to win the 5000 m African title. She was selected to represent Ethiopia at the 2008 Summer Olympics and finished in eighth place in the event final.

She returned to the podium at the 2009 World Cross Country Championships, taking another bronze medal, and broke the African record in the 10,000 m with a time of 29:53.80 to win a the FBK Games, overturning Tirunesh Dibaba's mark. She won her first world track medal later that season, finishing as runner-up behind Linet Masai to take the 10,000 m silver at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics. She continued her bronze medal streak at the 2010 World Cross Country Championships and won her second medal of the African Championships with a 10,000 m silver in Nairobi. She won at the Obudu Ranch Mountain Race in 2010, which also brought her the women's title of the African Mountain Running Championships.

She won a third consecutive title at the Jan Meda Cross Country in February 2011. At the 2012 Frankfurt Marathon, her first race over 10 km distance, she stayed in the leading group until the 37th km, when she went away to an impressive debut victory, with a new course record of 2:21:01.