Gudaf Tsegay: Eyes on Olympic glory at Paris 2024, but first the world records

2024: Another history-chasing year for Gudaf Tsegay

2024 is all about raising the bar yet again.

Last February, she came just half a second shy of the 3000m world indoor record with her blistering 8:16:60 run, and two months later became the third-fastest woman of all-time in the women’s 1500m list.

She was gutted not to have broken another of Kenyan Kipyegon’s world records at the Diamond League in Xiamen.

“I ran 3:50, that’s almost world record. Why not break it?” She posed after coming close to the 3:49.11 mark. The two-time Olympian has parked that attempt for now as she returns to Hayward field track at the University of Oregon, where she set the 5000m mark.

She’s setting off to slash a whopping 28 seconds off her personal best of 29:29.73 from 2023. Letesenbet Gidey holds the 10,000m world record of 29:01.03 from June 2021.

Tsegay does love speed, but with the Olympics looming the stakes go even further.

“I am an indoor champion, I am a world champion, but when it comes to the Olympics, I am a medallist, not a champion.

“So I want to become one. I believe I can achieve my goal.”

In Paris, she wants to match or even surpass the feat of Tirunesh Dibaba, the first woman to achieve the Olympic 5,000m/10,000m double.

And after watching Sifan Hassan’s triple in Tokyo, where the Dutchwoman won two gold medals in the longer distances and a bronze in the 1500m, she’s toying with the possibility of running- “maybe three or two” -events at the Olympics.