Barega finished 9th in the 1,500m at the Diamond League meet in London on 19/7, with a time of 3 minutes 32.93 seconds. This was 0.07 seconds faster than the world championship qualifying standard of 3 minutes 33 seconds, securing his eligibility for a fourth event at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo.
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Selemon Barega competing in the 1,500m at the Diamond League meet in London on 19/7. |
He previously ran the 5,000m in 12 minutes 51.39 seconds at the 2024 Diamond League meet in Rome, well under the world championship standard of 13 minutes 1 second.
The Ethiopian runner also clocked 26 minutes 44.13 seconds in the 10,000m at the 2025 Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, USA, surpassing the qualifying standard of 27 minutes.
Most impressively, Barega finished the Seville Marathon in 2 hours 5 minutes 15 seconds in February 2025, his first attempt at the 42.195 km distance. The world championship standard for this event is 2 hours 6 minutes 30 seconds.
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Barega winning the Seville Marathon in February 2025. Photo: Sevilla Marathon |
Barega winning the Seville Marathon in February 2025. Photo: Sevilla Marathon
Despite qualifying for four events, Barega may not compete in all of them. Each country can only send a maximum of three athletes per event. In the marathon, he ranks 20th among Ethiopian runners and the team has already been finalized, leaving him with little chance of competing.
He is also only ranked 8th nationally in the 5,000m. His best chances lie in the 1,500m, where he is the only Ethiopian to have qualified, and the 10,000m, where he is currently ranked third. He won gold in the 10,000m at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics with a time of 27 minutes 43.22 seconds.
According to Canadian Running Magazine, given the demanding schedule and intense competition, Barega is likely to choose only two events. The most probable scenario is that he will compete in the 1,500m and 10,000m, the two events where he is most strongly positioned within the Ethiopian team.
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Barega celebrating his victory in the 10,000m at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. |
Dutch runner Sifan Hassan initially aimed to participate in four events at the Paris 2024 Olympics. However, she later dropped the 1,500m and focused on winning medals in the 5,000m, 10,000m, and marathon. Hassan achieved her goal, winning bronze in the 5,000m and 10,000m before taking gold in the marathon.
Two athletes have previously won four medals in a single Olympic Games: American sprint icon Florence Griffith-Joyner (gold in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay, and silver in the 4x400m relay at Seoul 1988) and Fanny Blankers-Koen of the Netherlands (gold in the 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay, and 80m hurdles at London 1948).
However, no athlete has ever medaled in four individual events in either the World Championships or the Olympics.
The 20th World Athletics Championships will take place from 13/9 to 21/9/2025 at the National Stadium in Tokyo, Japan, the same venue that hosted the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The event will bring together around 2,000 athletes from nearly 200 countries, competing in 49 events across men's, women's, and mixed relay categories.
Hong Duy (Canadian Running Magazine)
