Helen Bekele Tola (born 21 November 1994) is an Ethiopian–Swiss long-distance runner. She finished second at the 2019 Tokyo Marathon, and third at the 2021 Berlin Marathon. She has also won the

Annecy Annecy ( , ; , also ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Haute-Savoie Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, regi ...

and

Barcelona Marathon The Zurich Barcelona Marathon ( Catalan: ''Marató Barcelona''), formerly the Marathon Catalunya and later the Marató de Catalunya, is an annual marathon race over the classic distance of usually held in March in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, ...

s, as well as multiple other long-distance events. Born in Ethiopia, she now lives in Switzerland.

Personal life

Helen Bekele Tola was born in Ethiopia. In 2015, she moved to

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, Switzerland. Tola is married to Tesfaye Eticha, who competed for Switzerland at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

Career

Tola competes for the Stade Geneva athletics club. In 2015, Tola won the Lausanne Marathon, and the , a race around the city. In 2016, Tola won the

Marathon, breaking the course record by over three minutes. In the same year, she came second at the

Lake Maggiore Lake Maggiore (, ; ; ; ; literally 'greater lake') or Verbano (; ) is a large lake located on the south side of the Alps. It is the second largest lake in Italy and the largest in southern Switzerland. The lake and its shoreline are divided be ...

Half Marathon in a time of 1:15:37. In 2017, she won the

in a course record time of 2:25:04. It was over four minutes better than her previous personal best. In the same year, she won the half-marathon event in a course record time of 1:09:47. In 2018, Tola came second at the 10 km Corrida de Houilles race, sixth at the

Berlin Marathon The Berlin Marathon (, ) is a marathon event held annually on the streets of Berlin, Germany on the last weekend of September. Held annually since 1974, the event includes multiple races over the marathon distance of , including elite level road r ...

, and ninth at the

Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon is an annual half marathon held on Al Marjan Island in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. History The first event, in 2007, saw Samuel Wanjiru breaking the world record, but Wanjiru himself set a new world record o ...

. In 2019, Tola finished second at the

Tokyo Marathon The is an annual marathon sporting event in Tokyo, Japan. It is a World Athletics Platinum Label marathon and one of the seven World Marathon Majors. The latest edition of the race took place on . It is sponsored by Tokyo Metro. History The fi ...

, in a personal best time of 2:21:01. She also finished fourth at the

, and was in the leading group of four racers, alongside eventual winner Ashete Bekere, Mare Dibaba, and

Sally Chepyego Kaptich Sally Chepyego Kaptich (; born 3 October 1985) is a Kenyan long-distance runner who competes mainly in track and road running events. She established herself at the World Youth Championships in Athletics in 2001, winning the 3000 metres title. ...

, for most of the race. She finished in 2:21:36, 25 seconds slower than her personal best. Later in the year, Tola won the race from

Murten Murten (German language, German, ) or Morat (French language, French, ; ) is a bilingual Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality and a city in the See (district of Fribourg), See district of the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Fribourg (can ...

Fribourg or is the capital of the Cantons of Switzerland, Swiss canton of Canton of Fribourg, Fribourg and district of Sarine (district), La Sarine. Located on both sides of the river Saane/Sarine, on the Swiss Plateau, it is a major economic, adminis ...

in a course record time of 57:50. She broke Franziska Rochat-Moser's 22 year old previous record by over a minute. She also won the 10 km race at the Lausanne Marathon, the 10 km

San Silvestre Vallecana The San Silvestre Vallecana is an annual 10 km road race held on 31 December in Madrid, Spain since 1964. It has two editions: a fun run for amateur athletes and an elite race for professional athletes. In 2012, the race achieved its hist ...

, in a personal best time of 30:47, and the ''Scalata al Castello'' race in

Arezzo Arezzo ( , ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the Province of Arezzo, province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of Above mean sea level, above sea level. As of 2 ...

, Italy. In 2020, Tola won the Madrid 10k Run, beating pre-race favourite

Ruth Chepng'etich Ruth Chepng'etich (often spelled Ruth Chepngetich, born 8 August 1994) is a Kenyan road runner who is the current women's world record holder in the marathon, with a time of 2:09:56 set at the 2024 Chicago Marathon. She is the 2019 world cham ...

. She finished in 30:50, the fourth fastest ever time at the event. Later in the year, she came second at a Berlin 10k invitational event; her time of 30:59 was the fifth fastest time of the year. She also won the 10,000 metres event at the Swiss Athletics Championships as a guest runner, and came fourth in the

one hour run The one hour run is an athletics event in which competitors try to cover as much distance as possible within one hour. While officially recognized by World Athletics as a track event, it is rarely contested apart from occasional world record att ...

race of the

Memorial Van Damme The Memorial Van Damme is an annual athletics event at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, that takes place in late August or early September. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it now serves as a final event of the D ...

Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fifteen invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics one-day meet competitions. The inaugural season was ...

event. Tola has also won the road race at the '' Escalade de Genève'' on four occasions. Tola expressed a desire to represent Switzerland at the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

. In 2021, Tola won the

Belp Belp is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is close to Bern's Belp Airport. The municipality of Belpberg merged on 1 January 2012 into the municipality of Belp.

Marathon. Later in the year, she came third at the 2021 Berlin Marathon, finishing behind fellow Ethiopians

Gotytom Gebreslase Gotytom Gebreslase (born 15 January 1995) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner. She won the gold medal in the marathon at the 2022 World Athletics Championships. In 2021, in her marathon debut, Gebreslase took victory in the women's race at the ...

and Hiwot Gebrekidan. She came ninth at the

2021 Tokyo Marathon The 2021 Tokyo Marathon () was the fifteenth edition of the annual marathon race in Tokyo. The competition was held on Sunday 6 March 2022, having been postponed twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The elite events were won by Kenyans Eliud Ki ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tola, Helen Bekele 1994 births Living people 21st-century Swiss people Athletes (track and field) at the 2024 Summer Olympics Ethiopian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Ethiopian female long-distance runners Ethiopian female marathon runners Swiss female long-distance runners Swiss female marathon runners Olympic athletes for Switzerland 21st-century Swiss sportswomen 21st-century Ethiopian sportswomen