Career
Kifle was born in Adi Billai in Eritrea's Debub Region. He made his first international appearance for Eritrea at the age of 21, running in the 3000 metres at the 1999 IAAF World Indoor Championships. He finished in last place and was over twenty seconds behind the rest of the runners. His first international outdoor competition followed later that year and he ran in the heats of the 5000 metres at the 1999 World Championships in Athletics in Seville. In 2000 he came 61st at the 2000 IAAF World Cross Country Championships and made his Olympic debut with a performance in the heats of the 10,000 metres at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. He began to improve from the 2002 season onwards: he was eighth in the long race at the 2000 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, fourth at the 2002 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships with a time of 1:01:05 hours, and came sixth over 5000 m at the 2002 African Championships in Athletics. He also won the Cursa de Bombers 10K in Spain that year.
Kifle was injured in the 2003 season, but came back in 2004 with a top ten finish at the 2004 IAAF World Cross Country Championships and a second Olympic appearance on the track, taking 16th in the 10,000 m final at the 2004 Athens Olympics. He was eleventh in the 10,000 m at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics and won his first major individual medal with third place finish at the 2005 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships. He made the top ten a both the 2006 IAAF World Cross Country Championships and 2006 IAAF World Road Running Championships. He had some of his best half marathon performances in 2007, including a bronze medal at the 2007 All-Africa Games and set a significant personal best of 59:30 minutes to take fifth at the 2007 IAAF World Road Running Championships.
On his marathon debut, he was fifth at the 2007 Amsterdam Marathon with a personal best time of 2:07:34 hours – an Eritrean record. At the 2008 London Marathon he ran a time of 2:08:51 for seventh place.
Kifle attempted his first Olympic marathon at the 2008 Beijing Games, but he could only manage 36th place overall. He was seventh for a second year running at the 2009 London Marathon having finished in 2:08:28. He took part in the marathon at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics and was in contention up to the 30 km but he dropped out soon after and did not finish the race.
He ran at the 2010 London Marathon and finished in ninth place with a time of 2:14:39, behind compatriot Zersenay Tadese. Kifle was chosen to compete at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics, but he failed to finish the men's marathon race. He ran his best time since 2009 at the 2012 Seoul International Marathon (2:08:51) and he was the only non-Kenyan runner to feature in the top ten.
Read more about this topic: Yonas Kifle
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