26 Facts About Feyisa Lilesa

Feyisa Lilesa is an Ethiopian long-distance runner.

Feyisa Lilesa became the youngest man to run under 2:06 when he ran 2:05:23 in the men's marathon at the 2010 Rotterdam Marathon.

Feyisa Lilesa set his personal best of 2:04:52 in the marathon when he came in second place at the 2012 Chicago Marathon.

Feyisa Lilesa won the Dublin Marathon in 2009 in his debut race and won the Xiamen International Marathon in 2010.

Feyisa Lilesa was the bronze medalist at the 2011 World Championships marathon and the silver medalist in the 2016 Rio Olympics marathon.

Feyisa Lilesa entered international competition in 2008 and his first major competition was the 2008 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, where his 14th-place finish in the junior race helped the Ethiopians to the team silver medals.

Feyisa Lilesa made his senior breakthrough the following year, stepping up a level at the 2009 IAAF World Cross Country Championships and scoring a senior team silver medal by finishing in 12th place.

Feyisa Lilesa set a 10K best of 28:20 to finish as runner-up behind Mark Kiptoo.

Feyisa Lilesa set a time of 1:02:15 but again he was beaten into second place by a Kenyan rival, this time in the form of William Chebor.

Feyisa Lilesa made his marathon debut he following month, competing at the Dublin Marathon.

Feyisa Lilesa took the lead from two-time winner Aleksey Sokolov and went unrivalled in his first race over the distance, beating Sokolov by a margin of a minute and a half.

Feyisa Lilesa's time of 2:09:12 was a strong debut run, although he missed the course record by five seconds.

Feyisa Lilesa improved further at the Xiamen International Marathon in January 2010, breaking Samuel Muturi Mugo's year-old course record with a time of 2:08:47 to gain his first win at a major marathon.

Feyisa Lilesa knocked a significant margin off that time at the Rotterdam Marathon, where he finished in 2:05:23.

Feyisa Lilesa ran at the 2010 Chicago Marathon in October and kept pace with the race leaders, Tsegaye Kebede and Samuel Wanjiru, up to the 20-mile mark.

Feyisa Lilesa faded behind them afterwards and finished in third with a time of 2:08:10.

Feyisa Lilesa was among the earlier front runners of the Delhi Half Marathon the following month, but eventually finished in fifth place.

Feyisa Lilesa was part of the silver medal-winning Ethiopian team at the 2011 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, where he finished in seventeenth place.

Feyisa Lilesa was chosen to represent Ethiopia at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics and ran a season's best time of 2:10:32 hours to take the bronze medal.

Feyisa Lilesa began 2012 with a significant improvement in the half marathon, taking the Houston Half Marathon title with a course record time of 59:22 minutes.

Feyisa Lilesa entered the RAK Half Marathon the following month but was two minutes slower and ended the race in fifth place.

Feyisa Lilesa did not make the Ethiopian team for the 2012 Summer Olympics and that July he was runner-up at the Bogota Half Marathon.

Feyisa Lilesa retained his half marathon title in Houston at the start of 2013 and came fourth at the RAK Half Marathon a month later.

Feyisa Lilesa said that his gesture might lead to retribution on his return, and that he might be forced to leave his homeland.

At a press conference held in Washington, DC, on 14 September 2016, Feyisa Lilesa urged the international community, particularly the United States which is an ally of Ethiopia, to put pressure on the Ethiopian government to give the people their rights lest an ethnic conflict follow the recent wave of protests.

In 2021, Feyisa Lilesa enlisted in the Ethiopian Army to fight in the Tigray War.