They are both 19-year-old runners coming from Ethiopia and they have already experienced the pleasure of competing in an Olympic final, as well as the joy of breaking the world junior record.
After such a spectacular 2012 season Mohamed Aman and Hagos Gebrhiwet travelled to Doha to officially open their 2013 Diamond Race adventure by entering the 800m and the 3000m races respectively.
Mohamed is the only runner who managed to defeat Olympic Champion David Rudisha in the last two years and he promised that at least he will try to do it again:
“I am always willing to become better and there is always room for improvement. I trained hard in my country Ethiopia and I feel confident ahead of the new season. Hopeful.
Aman, whose World Junior record stands at 1:42.53 doesn’t feel that he had luck on his side when he beat Rudisha.
“It didn’t happen accidentally or because David wasn’t at his best form. If you check the times you will see that both races went under 1:43 and 1:44 minutes.”
Mohamed Aman set a new Ethiopian record indoors and run a leg at the Penn Relays outdoors recently. The season will get even busier as he aims to follow the whole Diamond Race with Eugene being the first stop.
“I took a lot of lessons from the Olympics (he finished 6th at the 800m final). Staying out of the medals didn’t disappoint me. On the contrary I learned a lot from this experience, running against the best athletes in a full-packed stadium.”
As for the typical to an 800m runner question, if a 1:40 time is achievable, Mohamed replies:
“I believe it is possible to break that barrier. I am trying really hard in training to reach that sort of level. To run that fast I believe that a 48-49 seconds 400m split is needed.”
Hagos Gebrhiwet was recently crowned World Cross Country Champions and he is definitely following on the footsteps of his great compatriot Kenenisa Bekele. He ran 12:47.53 last season at age 18, while Bekele made it under the 13 minutes barrier when he was 21. He certainly has the potential to break the 5000m world record (12:37.35):
“I will try to do my best as I always do. I dream of
“In Moscow I will run the 5000m and I trust I will
breaking the record and I give my best for that.
succeed. It was difficult for me to adjust my training regime after the Cross Country, since the training for track races is much different but I will be in shape pretty soon.”
lly I will find the way to beat David Rudisha again. I have a plan but I am not going to reveal it. You will see me on track!”
Source: aroundtherings.com
