Ethiopian Runners Sweep Both Podiums at the tRUNsylvania 10K in Romania

Khairi Bejiga, 20, became the race's first repeat winner in 27:01, and fellow 20-year-old Asefu Abreha won the women's race in 30:16 in only her second 10K on the roads.

Published: Oct 5, 2026 5:29 pm

Jessy Carveth

Jessy Carveth

Jessy is our Senior News Editor, pro cyclist and former track and field athlete with a Bachelors degree in Kinesiology.

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Khairi Bejiga won the tRUNsylvania 10K in Brasov, Romania, for the second year in a row on Sunday, and Asefu Abreha took the women’s title in a personal best by more than a minute, as Ethiopian runners filled all six places on the two podiums.

Bejiga, 20, finished in 27:01, one second ahead of his training partner Nibret Kinde, and is now the only athlete to have won the race twice since it started in 2021. He came in as the clear favorite, having won here a year ago on his 10K debut in 26:54 and then run 26:51 twice this year, finishing second to Andreas Almgren at the 10K Valencia in January and then winning in Lille in April, according to World Athletics. That time is also the course record, set by Kenya’s Nicolas Kipkorir Kimeli in 2022.

Ethiopian Runners Sweep Both Podiums at the tRUNsylvania 10K in Romania 1

The record was what Bejiga wanted, and the opening half took it away from him. A pack of 12 went through 5K in 13:32, with Bejiga waving at the others to come through and help. “I was hoping the first half of the race was going to be quicker but nobody wanted to go faster,” he said through an interpreter in comments released by the Brasov Running Festival. “I was looking for a course record and personal best.”

From halfway he did most of the work himself, and kilometers of 2:42 and 2:40 left five men together at 8K in 21:44: Bejiga, Kinde, Ethiopia’s Ayele Tadesse, Kenya’s Amos Bett and Uganda’s Kenneth Kiprop. Kiprop, one of the men expected to contend, fell shortly afterward and finished 11th. A 2:41 ninth kilometer dropped first Bett, then Tadesse, but Kinde, the Ethiopian 10,000m champion, was still level with Bejiga until the last 200m, when Bejiga finally sprinted clear. Kinde’s 27:02 was a personal best.

Tadesse was third in 27:10, 30 seconds faster than he had ever run, and Bett fourth in 27:13, with the whole top 10 inside 27:33. Hani Idriss Hersi set a Djibouti record of 27:16 in fifth, and France’s Meziane Benhammou, 18th in 28:39, took 14 seconds off the European under-18 best.

Bejiga moves up to the half-marathon next, at the Valencia Half Marathon on Oct. 25. His only previous race over the distance was a 1:02:04.

Ethiopian Runners Sweep Both Podiums at the tRUNsylvania 10K in Romania 2

Asefu Abreha Wins the Women’s Race in a Personal Best

It was a cold morning, 8 C at the start, and the early pace was cautious: 9:06 at 3K and 15:11 at 5K put Sheila Chepkirui’s 30:07 course record from 2022 beyond reach. Seven women were still together at halfway before Abreha, Aynadis Mebratu and Yenenesh Shimket, all Ethiopian, opened a gap during the sixth kilometer. Mebratu led from 7K trying to shake the other two, and Shimket stayed with her until the final kilometer. Abreha then attacked Mebratu, went again with about 200m left, and won in 30:16, three seconds clear.

Abreha, also 20, had won bronze in the 10,000m at the African Championships in Accra in May in 31:45.91, but her only previous road 10K was a 31:32 in Bengaluru in April, and most of the attention before the race was on Kenya’s Brenda Jepchirchir, who ran 29:25 to win in Valencia in January and finished outside the top 10 here.

Shimket, who is 19, was third in 30:21, which organizers list as the fastest 10K ever run on the roads by an under-20 woman. She finished fifth in the under-20 race at the World Cross Country Championships in Tallahassee earlier this year.

Two more national records came in behind them. Samia Hassan Nour ran 30:37 for Djibouti in fourth, and South Africa’s Tayla Kavanagh, who had been 18 seconds behind at 5K, came through to finish fifth in 30:50.