Shami Abdulahi

Shami Abdulahi Dawit (born 16 July 1984) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who specialises in marathon races. He won the 2012 Hamburg Marathon in a course record time and has a personal best of 2:05:42 hours for the distance.

Shami Abdulahi (centre) at the 2012 Chicago Marathon.

Biography

A late-comer to elite level athletics, his first appearance in a European race came at the 2009 Marathon des Alpes-Maritimes, where he came seventh in a time of 2:14:09 hours.[1] He ran on the Italian road circuit in 2010, coming eighth at the Rome City Marathon before making a breakthrough at the Carpi Marathon, where he reached the podium for the first time (his time of 2:09:50 hours bringing him third place).[2]

Shami proved himself adept at the half marathon distance in June 2011 as he won the Olomouc Half Marathon, beating the more favoured Eliud Kiptanui, in a personal best run of 1:00:44 hours.[3] He was among the leaders for most of the 2011 Rome City Marathon and fell back to third in the final stages, although he managed a personal best run of 2:09:42 hours.[4] He came close to stopping Kenneth Mburu Mungara from winning his fourth straight Toronto Waterfront Marathon as both runners recorded a time of 2:09:51 hours, but it was his Kenyan counterpart who crossed the line first.[5]

The 2012 Dubai Marathon in January had one of the fastest fields in the history of marathon running, and Shami improved significantly on the fast course to record a personal best of 2:05:42 hours.[6] He finished seventh overall and progressed into the top-40 on the all-time rankings.[7] Three months later he won his first major race at the Hamburg Marathon and his time of 2:05:58 hours was a new course record for the German competition.[8] He was a little slower (2:08:39) on his third outing of the year, the 2012 Chicago Marathon, and he only just made the top ten.[9] A year passed until he next competed, when he managed fourth at the 2013 Amsterdam Marathon with a run of 2:08:02 hours.[10] He placed third at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon in 2014, but his career ceased thereafter, with his only other performance being a failure to finish at the 2017 Venice Marathon.[11]

References
  1. Marathon 2009. IAAF. Retrieved on 2012-05-03.
  2. Sampaolo, Diego (2010-03-21). Ethiopian double as Rome celebrates Bikila – Rome Marathon report. IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-03-22.
  3. June 2011 AIMS Results. AIMS. Retrieved on 2012-05-03.
  4. Sampaolo, Diego (2010-03-30). Dado takes third straight Rome title as Chumba surprises. IAAF. Retrieved on 2012-05-03.
  5. Gains, Paul (2011-10-18). Mungara claims fourth Toronto Marathon title. IAAF. Retrieved on 2012-05-03.
  6. Butcher, Pat (2012-01-27). Abshero stuns with 2:04:23 debut, Mergia clocks 2:19:31 in Dubai. IAAF. Retrieved on 2012-05-03.
  7. Marathon All Time. IAAF (2012-04-25). Retrieved on 2012-05-03.
  8. Butcher, Pat (2012-04-29). Dawit again sub-2:06 as course records tumble in Hamburg. IAAF. Retrieved on 2012-05-03.
  9. Gugala, Jon (2012-10-07). Course record for Kebede, Baysa dethrones Shobukhova – Chicago Marathon report. IAAF. Retrieved on 2013-02-02.
  10. Mondo, l'Africa regina della maratona (in Italian). FIDAL (2013-10-21). Retrieved on 2013-10-24.
  11. Abdullah Dawit Shami. ARRS. Retrieved 2018-05-04.
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