Markos Geneti
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Markos Geneti (born May 30, 1984 in Gute, Oromia Region) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who previously competed in track running, but now is a road specialist.
He won the 3000 metres title at the 2001 World Youth Championships in Athletics and stepped up a level to take the silver medal over 5000 metres at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics the following year. Turning to senior competition, he was the runner-up in the 5000 m behind Hailu Mekonnen at the 2003 Afro-Asian Games and went on to claim the bronze medal in the 3000 m at the 2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships. He competed in that event twice at the IAAF World Athletics Final, in 2004 and 2005, but failed to win a medal on either occasion.[1]
He made his global outdoor debut at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics, where he reached the semi-finals of the 1500 metres. Geneti ran a 3000 m best of 7:32.69 minutes at the Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix in February 2007.[1] The following month he then made his debut at the 2007 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, where his 15th-place finish was the second best performance by an Ethiopian (after Tadese Tola).[2]
In March 2011, he won the Los Angeles Marathon, breaking the record by almost two minutes in his first marathon attempt. His time of 2:06:35 was at that point the sixth fastest ever for a first-time marathoner.[3] In his second race at the 2012 Dubai Marathon he ran a personal best time of 2:04:54 hours, but in one of the fastest races ever, he took third place behind Ayele Abshero and Dino Sefir.[4] He did not return to competition until December, when he ran at the Honolulu Marathon and placed second to Wilson Kipsang.[5]
