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Yalemzerf Yehualaw, the 2022 London Marathon champion, will be making her TCS New York City Marathon debut. It will be her first race in the U.S.

In her international road racing debut, Yehualaw won the 2019 Rabat Half Marathon. She went on the win the half marathon at the All-African Games that year, and a bronze medal at the World Championships in the distance the following year. Her time of 1:05:19 at the World Championships was the second-fastest ever by an Ethiopian woman in the distance.  

In 2021, she lowered her personal best by six seconds at the Istanbul Half Marathon to record the third-fastest women’s half marathon time in history. She bettered that at the Valencia Half Marathon that year to climb to second on the all-time list with a personal best of 1:03:51.

She made her 26.2-mile debut at the 2022 Hamburg Marathon, running 2:17:23, which at the time was the fastest ever women’s marathon debut and an Ethiopian record. In her second marathon, she became the youngest woman ever to win the London Marathon despite falling with about 10K to go.

The eldest of six siblings, Yehualaw started running at the age of 12 and immediately began winning track races. She was then invited to join the Ethiopian Youth Sport Academy and after four years joined the NN Running Team in 2017.