Selemon Barega restored Ethiopia’s dominance in the men’s 10,000m, charging to the front on the final lap and holding off two Ugandan favourites to win the first athletics gold medal of the Tokyo Olympic Games on Friday (30).

Many Ethiopians respect Gurage people for being business savvy, who skillfully manage the demands of agricultural upkeep and urban commerce between Addis Ababa and the countryside. Selemon Barega, one of the most talented distance runners Ethiopia has ever seen, is a proud Gurage.

After the fifth and final Gold level meeting of the 2021 World Athletics Indoor Tour brought the series to a close for another year, 11 athletes have booked their place at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.

The nature of his recent victories had hinted at a big breakthrough, but even Elliot Giles appeared surprised when he crossed the line in 1:43.63 to win the men's 800m at the Copernicus Cup – part of the World Athletics Indoor Tour – in Torun on Wednesday (17).

World champions Grant Holloway and Beatrice Chepkoech will aim to continue their record-breaking form when they head to Torun for the Copernicus Stop on Wednesday (17), the next World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting of 2021.

Selemon Barega clocked a 3:34.62 world-leading run in the 1500m to highlight the Meeting Metz Moselle Athlélor, a World Athletics Indoor Tour Silver meeting, in the northeastern French city on Saturday (6).

Golden Spike meeting director Jan Zelezny today announced the latest top names for the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting in Ostrava on 8 September.

Living up to his star billing, Armand Duplantis came painstakingly close to breaking the world record in the pole vault on Tuesday (4) night at the PSD Meeting Dusseldorf, the third stop on the 2020 World Athletics Indoor Tour.

Organisers of the Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais have confirmed that sprint hurdlers Orlando Ortega and Pascal Martinot Lagarde, long jumpers Ese Brume and Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk and Ethiopian distance runner Selemon Barega will compete at the World Athletics Indoor Tour meeting in Lievin on 19 February.

Christian Coleman sped to a dominant 9.85 victory in the 100m at the Bislett Games in Oslo as the 2019 IAAF Diamond League resumed in the Norwegian capital on Thursday (13).

Ethiopia’s Selemon Barega will return to the Prefontaine Classic to defend his two-mile title at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Stanford on 30 June.

Two highly anticipated duels between some of the world’s greatest distance runners will highlight the Cross Internacional Juan Muguerza, the fifth leg of the IAAF Cross Country Permit series in the Spanish town of Elgoibar on Sunday (13).