by Deji Ogeyingbo
This is Deji Ogeyinbgo’s first of two features on the top 10 female African Athletes of 2022 (numbers 10-6). Tell us what you think of our picks!
Top 10 female African Athletes in 2022 (10-6)
As the athletics season this year draws to a close, it’s time to bring out our metrics and rank the best African athletes, breaking down their performances and why they made the cut on our list.
From the African Championships in Mauritius, the World Championships in Oregon, the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, and the climax of the Diamond League series in Zurich, African athletes held their own against the best in the world and deservedly emerged tops in their respective events.
10. Ruth Chepngetich
Ruth Chepngetich is not new to winning titles and marathon majors. Her growing list of accolades before this season includes winning the marathon at the 2019 World Championships and a couple of half-marathon and marathon majors in her over the half-a-decade span of racing on the road.
The Kenyan took it a notch higher this year with a performance to remember at the Chicago marathon. After dominating the course last year by clocking 2:22:31, Chepngetich produced a magnificent display at this year’s edition, as she came within whiskers of breaking the world record.
Chepngetich kicked off her marathon season with a win at the Nagoya Women’s Marathon in May in Japan, dominating the field to win in 2:17:18. It was her fastest time over the 42km course since January of 2019. Getting into form was crucial for the Kenyan, and she would go on to build on that win later in the season.
After suffering the ignominy of not finishing this year’s World Championship Marathon, Chepngetich picked up the pieces to clock 2:14:18 in this year’s Chicago marathon – the second-best in history, just 14 seconds shy of Brigid Kosgei’s world record set on the same course in 2019 – was fast, but not unprecedented. But no woman has ever attacked a marathon in the manner Chepngetich did on a brisk, sunny day in Chicago.
Chepngetich built up an early lead and had established an astonishing 3minutes and 42 seconds advantage over the chasing pack by the halfway point. Charging to the line with no one else in sight, the 28-year-old clocked a personal best by almost three minutes and also become just the second woman ever under 2:15. Chepngetich did it the hard way as her half splits ended up being 65:44 – 68:34.
9. Marie Josee Ta Lou
It’s no news that the Jamaican trio of Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Elaine Thompson-Herah, and Shericka Jackson have held sway in women’s sprinting in the last year; only one woman seems to have challenged them in that time frame. Her name is Marie Josee Ta Lou.
For the most part of her career, the Ivorian has had to struggle to reach the top, and in a season that was blighted by injury, there are lots of positives to take from it, with the peak coming at the Monaco Grand Prix after she broke the African Record.
It was a slow and steady start to her season as the former African Champion ramped up races in the United States and Europe. In that span between May and June, Ta Lou struggled to run a sub-11 second, with her best coming at the Paris Diamond League when she ran a time of 11.01 to finish third. As expected, there was trepidation about her chances of getting on the podium in Oregon.
Still, Ta Lou braved the odds and went into the World Championships with the hope she was going to get on the podium for the third time in her career. It wasn’t to be as she could only manage a seventh-place finish. There was still progress, though, as she ran a season’s best of 10.87s. For an athlete who struggled with inflammation in her shoulder in the first quarter of 2022, running that time at a global championship was a major win for her.
Less than a month later, Ta Lou finished third and broke the African Record; she co-owned with country-woman Murielle Ahoure at the Monaco Diamond League, clocking a new time of 10.72. There was a feeling of reward for her hard work and perseverance. Ta Lou ended her season with a third-place finish at the Diamond League in Zurich.
8. Ese Brume
When Ese Brume won Nigeria’s only track medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, there was so much expectation from Africa’s most populous country for her to upgrade to the medal at this year’s World Championships. The multiple African Champion has always had a way of delivering on the big stage, and she proved it once again.
First off for Brume was the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade. Nigeria had waited 14 years to win a medal at a World Indoor Championships, as Olusoji Fasuba was the last athlete to host the country’s flag when he won Gold at the men’s 60m in Valencia, Spain. Although very few of the country’s top athletes usually participate indoors, this year’s event in Belgrade offered an opportunity to end that drought. Brume came to the rescue.
After a couple of modest jumps in the opening rounds of the final in Belgrade, it was in her third jump was where she finally hit it, reaching a new Personal Best of 6.85ms indoors to clinch the Silver behind Ivana Vuleta.
She took her incredible form to the World Championships in Oregon as she snagged Silver with a mark of 7.02m, an improvement on the Bronze she won she won in Doha in 2019.
Perhaps, her biggest achievement of the year was reclaiming the Commonwealth Gold she first won in Glasgow in 2014. The pure emotions and camaraderie that came with her final Jump at this year’s Games in Birmingham speak volumes about how consistent Brume had been on the circuit. Sadly, Brume couldn’t defend her African title in Mauritius as she had passport issues.
On her day, Brume is unmatchable, and the entertainment she brings with each victory is what endears him to many.
7. Letesenbet Gidey
At No. & on our countdown is Long-Distance Runner Letesenbet Gidey. The Ethiopian has been on a record-breaking spree since she began to hug the limelight in 2019, but perhaps the only dent to a glittering career until this year was the lack of a major global title.
Gidey has taken the world by storm in the last three years, taking down records from the 5000m to the half marathon. She kicked off her season at the Prefontaine Classic in Oregon over the 5,000 with a modest 14:24.59. Her only Diamond League race of the season came at the Bislett Games in Norway, where she competed over the same distance. Still, her focus was winning a medal in Oregon.
There, she came up against some of the best distance runners on the circuit. Sifan Hassan’s blistering sprint finishes and Helen Obiri’s experience were what Gidey was up against. In one of the greatest sprint finishes in the women’s 10,000m, Gidey was left to dig in for her first global gold, holding off Kenya’s two-time world 5000m champion Obiri in 30:09.94.
A few days later, she picked up the pieces and tried her hands on the double, taking on the 5000m. In what was a tactical race, Gidey sacrificed a medal for her Ethiopian teammates to get on the podium, with Gudaf Tsegay winning Gold.
Gidey is still 24 years old, and under the tutelage of her coach Haile Eyasu, she runs around 90 to 100 miles a week. With the sort of dedication and hard work she now puts into her craft, there is no doubt she would go on and defend her title in Budapest in 2023.
6. Werkuha Getachew
Another Ethiopian takes the No. 6 spot on our countdown for this year’s female athlete of the year. Werkuha Getachew emerged from the shadows of her more established Ethiopian counterparts to dominate the women’s 3000m Steeplechase this year.
Getachew made light work of the entire field at the African Championships in Mauritius as she stormed to victory in 9:36:81. It was to serve as a springboard to what was going to come at the World Championships.
In Oregon, Getachew set a new national record of 8:54.61 for Ethiopia to finish second behind Norah Jeruto of Kazakhstan, while Mekides Abebe finished third in 8:56.08.
“The race went according to our plan. I wanted gold, but the winner is very strong,” said Getachew. “I tried my best and got silver. This is a Kenyan event. Ethiopian men started to challenge, and we are joining them now.”
After the world championships, Getachew attempted to break Beatrice Chepkoech’s world record of 8:44.32 over the distance at the Allianz Memorial Van Damme, but she came up short, finishing with 9:03.44. Less than a week later, she won the Diamond Trophy in Zurich.
Werkuha seems to have fallen in love with the water and barrier jump race after trying out the 1500m and 800m races and with her exploits this year.
