Sultan Haydar (; born Chaltu Girma Meshesha, 23 May 1987 in Golerogi, Ethiopia) is an

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

n-born Turkish

long-distance runner Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely Aerobic exercise, aerobic in nature and requires stamina as well as mental strength. Within endurance ru ...

. The tall athlete at was a member of Enkaspor, where she was coached by Nikola Borić. Haydar is currently serving a 30 month competition ban set to expire in July 2026 in relation to an anti-doping rule violation.

Career

Haydar started off her career representing Ethiopia as a

middle-distance runner Middle-distance running events are track races longer than sprints, ranging from 500 metres up to . The standard middle distances are the 800 metres, 1500 metres and mile run, although the 3000 metres may also be classified as a middle-distanc ...

and was the

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

ist in the

800 metres The 800 metres, or 800 meters (American and British English spelling differences#-re.2C -er, US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of a ...

at the

2005 African Junior Athletics Championships The 2005 African Junior Athletics Championships was the seventh edition of the biennial, continental athletics tournament for African athletes aged 19 years or younger. It was held in the Tunisian cities of Tunis and Radès Radès () is a ha ...

. She transferred her eligibility to Turkey in 2008. Haydar's first competition for Turkey was the

2008 European Cross Country Championships The 15th European Cross Country Championships were held at Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and langu ...

. She started the women's under-23 race quickly but yielded her early lead and dropped out at the halfway point. She was the

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1500-metre run is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletics since 1983. It is equivalent to 1.5 kilomet ...

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

ist at the

2009 European Athletics U23 Championships The 7th European Athletics U23 Championships were held between 16 and 19 July 2009 in the S. Darius and S. Girėnas Stadium in Kaunas, Lithuania. Complete results and medal winners were published. Men's results Women's results Medal table ...

, then won the under-23 race at the

2009 European Cross Country Championships The 2009 European Cross Country Championships was a continental cross country running competition that was held on 13 December 2009 near Dublin city, Fingal in Ireland. Dublin was selected as the host city in 2007 and the event was the first time ...

later that year.Under 23 Women's Final: Turkey's Haydar gets it right this time
.

European Athletics The European Athletic Association (EAA, more commonly known as European Athletics) is the governing body for Sport of athletics, athletics in Europe. It is one of the six Area Associations of the world's athletics governing body World Athletics. E ...

(2009-12-13). Retrieved on 2009-12-18. At the beginning of 2011 she made her debut over the

half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish, or shortcu ...

and recorded a time of 1:10:02 hours for seventh place at the high calibre

RAK 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 list of world records in athletics, world record, but Wanj ...

. She ran in the 1500 m at the

2010 European Athletics Championships The 2010 European Athletics Championships were the 20th edition of the European Athletics Championships, organised under the supervision of the European Athletic Association. They were held at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Barcelona, C ...

, but failed to finish her heat. She turned to the

3000 metres The 3000 metres or 3000-metre run is a track running event, also commonly known as the "3K" or "3K run", where 7.5 laps are run around an outdoor 400 m track, or 15 laps around a 200 m indoor track. It is debated whether the 3000 m sho ...

at the

2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships The 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships were held at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy in Paris, France, from 4 to 6 March 2011. 577 athletes representing 46 countries competed at the championships. Twenty-six track and field events we ...

, where she set a personal best of 9:03.50 minutes to win her heat, but was slower in the final, coming in ninth place.Haydar, Sultan
IAAF. Retrieved on 2011-10-20. Outdoors, she competed for Turkey on home soil for the First League of the

2011 European Team Championships The third European Team Championships took place on 18 and 19 June 2011. The Competition was divided between four divisions, with results determining promotion and relegation between them. The Super League event was held in Stockholm, at the Stock ...

and won the 3000 m in a long-distance event sweep with Alemitu Bekele Degfa and Binnaz Uslu. Haydar also won the bronze in the 1500 m. She was the leader for much of the 2011

Istanbul Marathon The Istanbul Marathon (, also known as Türkiye İş Bankası Istanbul Marathon for sponsorship reasons) is an international athletics event hosted in Istanbul, Turkey, in November, first held in 1979. It is the only marathon in the world who ...

, but slowed after 35 km and eventually finished seventh. The 2012

Paris Marathon The Paris Marathon () is an annual marathon (sport), marathon hosted by the city of Paris, France. It is the largest running event in France in terms of finishers and is typically among the five largest marathons in the world. The marathon begi ...

saw her establish herself as a top level marathon runner. In spite of being well-beaten by winner Tirfi Tsegaye Beyene, Haydar improved her best by over ten minutes to set a Turkish national record mark of 2:25:07 hours in second place. Sultan Haydar qualified for participation in the

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

event 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 ...

but managed only 72nd place with a slow time of 2:38:26 hours. She ended the year with a third-place finish at the

. In her first marathon of 2013, she came third at the

Rome City Marathon The Rome Marathon is an annual marathon competition hosted by the city of Rome, Italy. History The competition has also doubled as the Italian Marathon championships on two occasions; in 1983 and 1986. The race date was shifted from the t ...

with a time of 2:27:10 hours. On 17 November 2013 Sultan Haydar repeated her third-place success at the Istanbul Marathon finishing with 2.29.40 after her countrywoman

Elvan Abeylegesse Elvan Abeylegesse (also formerly: Hewan Abeye (አልቫን አበይለገሠ, Amharic) and Elvan Can ( Turkish); born 11 September 1982) is an Ethiopian-born Turkish middle and long-distance running athlete who competed over distances from 150 ...

Anti-doping rule violation

Following a provisional suspension in June 2024, in March 2025 Haydar was served with a 30 month competition ban set to expire in July 2026 for an anti-doping rule violation after failing to submit to a test in January 2024. In addition, all her results were disqualified from 31 January 2024 onwards.

Achievements

Personal bests

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Haydar, Sultan 1987 births Living people Naturalized citizens of Turkey Turkish people of Ethiopian descent Ethiopian emigrants to Turkey Ethiopian female marathon runners Ethiopian female middle-distance runners Ethiopian female long-distance runners Turkish female middle-distance runners Turkish female long-distance runners Turkish female marathon runners Olympic athletes for Turkey Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for Turkey Athletes (track and field) at the 2013 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games competitors for Turkey Enkaspor athletes Doping cases in athletics Turkish sportspeople in doping cases