Diribe Welteji

Diribe Welteji
Diribe Welteji in 2023
Personal information
NationalityEthiopian
BornDiribe Welteji Kejelcha
(2002-05-13) 13 May 2002
West Shewa Zone, Oromia, Ethiopia
Sport
SportTrack and Field
Events
800 metres
1500 metres
Achievements and titles
Personal bests
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing  Ethiopia
World Championships
Silver medal – second place2023 Budapest1500 m
World Indoor Championships
Disqualified2025 Nanjing1500 m
World Road Running Championships
Gold medal – first place2023 Riga1 mile
World U20 Championships
Gold medal – first place2018 Tampere800 m
Silver medal – second place2021 Nairobi1500 m
African U20 Championships
Gold medal – first place2019 Abidjan1500 m

Diribe Welteji Kejelcha (born 13 May 2002)[1] is an Ethiopian middle-distance runner. She won the silver medal in the 1500 metres at the 2023 World Championships and placed fourth in the 800 metres at the 2022 World Championships.

At age 16, Welteji won the 800 m at the 2018 World U20 Championships, breaking the championship record in the process. She took silver for the 1500 metres at the 2021 World U20 Championships.

In February 2026, Welteji received a two-year ban in relation for failing to provide drug sample, without justification, the previous year. The Court of Arbitration for Sport backdated her ban to September 2025 and disqualified all results from 25 February 2025, including her bronze medal in the 1500 m at the 2025 World Indoor Championships.[2]

Career

A 16-year-old Diribe Welteji won the gold medal for the 800 m event at the 2018 World Under-20 Championships in Tampere, where she also competed in the women's 4 × 400 m relay without reaching the final, but achieving an Ethiopian junior record.[1]

In 2019, she won a gold in the 1500 metres at the African U20 Championships, finished sixth in the 800 m event at the African Games in Rabat, and was eliminated in the semi-finals of the 800 m event at the Doha World Championships.[1]

The 19-year-old competed without success in the women's 1500 m at the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics in August 2021, but the same month took silver in this event at the World U20 Championships held in Nairobi.[3][1]

Welteji placed fourth in the 800 m at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon in July with a time of 1:57.02.[4] In August, she won her first Diamond League meeting with a 1500 m victory, beating her esteemed compatriot Gudaf Tsegay at the Kamila Skolimowska Memorial in Chorzów, Poland. Welteji improved her personal best by more than two seconds and set a meet record with 3:56.91.[5]

On 1 October 2023, Welteji broke the 1 mile women's road record by running 4:20.98 in Riga at the World Athletics Road Running Championships.[6]

In December 2024, it was announced that she had signed up for the inaugural season of the Michael Johnson founded Grand Slam Track.[7]

In May 2025, the Ethiopia National Anti-Doping Office (ETH-NADO) issued an anti-doping rule violation charge against Welteji for "allegedly refusing to provide a sample for an out-of-competition doping control without any justification".[8][9] Although an ETH-NADO hearing panel held in August 2025 found that no ADRV had been committed, the Athletics Integrity Unit filed an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in early September.[9] On 12 September, CAS declared that Welteji was ineligible to compete in the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo and would remain suspended during the CAS arbitration procedure.[8][10] The CAS released its decision in February 2026, handing Weltiji a two-year ban.[2]

Achievements

International competitions

Representing  Ethiopia
YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventTime
2018 World U20 Championships Tampere, Finland 1st 800 m 1:59.74 WU20L CR
13th (h) 4 × 400 m relay 3:39.29 NU20R
2019 African U20 Championships Abidjan, Ivory Coast 1st 1500 m 4:11.59
African Games Rabat, Morocco 6th 800 m 2:04.20
World Championships Doha, Qatar 18th (sf) 800 m 2:02.69
2021 Olympic Games Tokyo, Japan 35th (h) 1500 m 4:10.25
World U20 Championships Nairobi, Kenya 2nd 1500 m 4:16.39
2022 World Championships Eugene, OR, United States 4th 800 m 1:57.02 PB
2023 World Championships Budapest, Hungary 2nd 1500 m 3:55.69
World Athletics Road Running Championships Riga, Latvia 1st Road mile 4:20.98 WR
2024 World Indoor Championships Glasgow, United Kingdom 5th 1500 m 4:03.82
Olympic Games Paris, France 4th 1500 m 3:52.75
2025 World Indoor Championships Nanjing, China DQ 1500 m 3:59.30

Circuit performances

Grand Slam Track results[11]
SlamRace groupEventPl.TimePrize money
2025 Kingston SlamShort distance 800 m2nd1:58.29US$100,000
1500 m1st4:04.51
2025 Miami SlamShort distance 1500 m3rd4:07.46US$25,000
800 m4th1:59.94
2025 Philadelphia SlamShort distance 1500 m1st3:58.04US$100,000
800 m1st1:58.94

Wins and titles

Personal bests

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Diribe WELTEJI – Athlete profile". World Athletics. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  2. 1 2 "Welteji banned for two years by CAS for doping violation". Reuters. 26 February 2026.
  3. ↑ "Athletics WELTEJI Diribe". Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 4 August 2021. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  4. ↑ Kelsall, Christopher (29 July 2022). "Did Athing Mu impede Keely Hodgkinson during the 800m final at World Athletics Championships?". Athletics Illustrated. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  5. ↑ Chris Broadbent (6 August 2022). "Fraser-Pryce flies to world-leading 10.66 in Silesia". World Athletics. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
  6. ↑ "Diribe Welteji Sets A New World Record In The Women's Road Mile In A Stunning Upset In Riga". 1 October 2023. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
  7. ↑ "Grand Slam Track Announces Final Five Racers For 2025 Season". FloTrack. Retrieved 21 December 2024.
  8. 1 2 "The Court of Arbitration for Sport Issues Provisional Measures Declaring Diribe Welteji Kejelcha (Ethiopia) Temporarily Ineligible" (PDF). Court of Arbitration for Sport. 12 September 2025.
  9. 1 2 "Ethiopia's Diribe Welteji in legal battle to race at worlds". ESPN. 11 September 2025.
  10. ↑ Ingle, Sean (12 September 2025). "Doping in spotlight on eve of World Athletics Championships with two runners banned". The Guardian.
  11. ↑ "Grand Slam Track Results". Grand Slam Track. Retrieved 5 April 2025.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.