Dawit Seyaum Biratu

Dawit Seyaum Biratu (born 27 July 1996) is an Ethiopian middle-distance runner who specialises in the 1500 metres.

Career

Dawit made her first impact at national level in 2013, winning the 1500 m national junior title.^[1] Her debut on the IAAF Diamond League circuit followed shortly after, and she set a personal best of 4:14.95 minutes at the Doha Diamond League meet.^[2] She was selected for her international debut at the 2013 World Youth Championships in Athletics and was runner-up to Tigist Gashaw – the first time Ethiopia took the top two spots in that event.^[3] She reversed this placing at the 2013 African Junior Athletics Championships, taking the title with a best of 4:09.00 minutes several seconds ahead of Tigist.^[4]

She won her first indoor competition in Prague in February 2014, running a time of 4:09.08 minutes.^[5] At the Rabat Meeting she established herself among the world's top 1500 m runners with a win in 3:59.53 minutes – an Ethiopian junior record and meeting record which ranked her seventh in the global rankings that year.^[6][7] She was near four minutes again at the New York Diamond League, where she finished as runner-up.^[2]

She entered the 2014 World Junior Championships in Athletics as favourite and delivered on this by winning the gold medal, going unchallenged throughout the final lap.^[8] Her first senior medal followed at the 2014 African Championships in Athletics, where she was the silver medallist behind the more experienced Hellen Obiri.^[9] Dawit was chosen for the Africa team for the 2014 IAAF Continental Cup and finished with the bronze medal behind Sifan Hassan and Shannon Rowbury.^[10]

Personal bests

• 1500 metres outdoor – 3:59.53 min (2014)
• 1500 metres indoor – 4:01.87 min (2016)

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International competitions