Yebrgual Melese, one of Ethiopia’s most accomplished women’s marathoners and a winner of races in Shanghai, Houston and Prague, died on Tuesday after collapsing during a training run in Addis Ababa. She was 36.
Her death was announced by her coach, Tesfaye Abadisa, known across Ethiopian running circles as “Coach China,” in a Facebook post that spread quickly through the international running community. According to reporting from Addis Media Network, Melese was running a regular session at Jan Meda, the historic training ground used by generations of Ethiopian distance runners, when she suddenly fell. She was carried off the course and taken to Yekatit 12 Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The cause of her collapse has not been disclosed.
The Ethiopian Athletics Federation confirmed her passing in a statement on Tuesday. “The Ethiopian Athletics Federation expresses its sorrow at the sudden death of this heroic athlete and offers its condolences to her family, friends, fans, and the entire sporting community,” the federation wrote.
A career built on the half marathon and the majors
Melese was due to race the Ottawa Marathon on May 24, where she was listed among the favorites. Friends and her coaching team said she had been working toward a personal best improvement on her 2:19:36, a time logged in Dubai that placed her among the small group of women who have run faster than 2 hours 20 minutes for the marathon distance.
She first surfaced on the Ethiopian racing scene in 2013, winning a 10,000-meter race staged by the Ethiopian Athletics Federation and taking gold. That same year she represented Ethiopia at the World Cross Country Championships. She moved up to the road soon after.
In 2015 she finished second at the Chicago Marathon, one of the six World Marathon Majors, in what remains the highest-profile result of her career. Later that year she won a bronze medal in the half marathon at the African Games in Brazzaville, Congo. Over the next several seasons she became a consistent winner on the international circuit, taking the Shanghai Marathon in 2018, the Houston Marathon, the Prague Marathon, and the Paris Half Marathon on two occasions. She also won the Lisbon Half Marathon and finished a strong Barcelona Half Marathon.
Her racing style was built on patience. She held a strong cruise pace and saved a sharp surge for the final miles, a pattern that worked equally well on the half marathon and the full distance.
A loss to Ethiopian distance running
Her coach said funeral arrangements will be decided by a committee in the coming days. The location and date of the service had not been announced as of Tuesday afternoon.
Melese is survived by her family and the wide community of training partners, coaches and friends she had built across more than a decade of racing. Her death lands during a period in which Ethiopian women continue to dominate distance racing, with world-record holder Tigst Assefa at the head of a generation now reshaping the women’s marathon.
