Dawit Seyaum


Dawit Seyaum Biratu 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. 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. 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. 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.
She won her first indoor competition in Prague in February 2014, running a time of 4:09.08 minutes. 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. She was near four minutes again at the New York Diamond League, where she finished as runner-up.
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. Her first senior medal followed at the 2014 African Championships in Athletics, where she was the silver medallist behind the more experienced Hellen Obiri. 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.

Personal bests