Lamecha Girma misses out in Lausanne, still remains the only runner that can halt the momentum of Soufiane El Bakkali

Deji Ogeyingbo wrote this fine piece on Ethiopia’s steeplechase superstar, Lamecha Girma.

Lamecha Girma misses out in Lausanne, and still remains the only runner that can halt the momentum of Soufiane El Bakkali.

How do you beat a man like Soufiane El Bakkali? There was a massive 12 seconds between the Moroccan world and Olympic Champion and the next runner in second after he crossed the line at the Diamond League in Lausanne. It was El Bakkali’s fifth race and second fastest time of the year. Those five races have all been wins, with the most important of them his penultimate race. It came in Oregon at the World championships, one that meant he became the world champion for the very first time.

The last man to beat El Bakkali over the Steeplechase was Conseslus Kipruto. And you would have to go way back to almost one year ago when the Kenyan usurped him by 0.04s in the Diamond League final in Zurich in 2021. Still, El Bakkali’s win in Oregon ensured he snapped Kenya’s streak of seven consecutive world titles in the event, including Kipruto’s run of two straight championships. The Moroccan looks unstoppable.

In this era of the men’s Steeplechase, breaking the eight-minute mark seemed a daunting task. El Bakkali is the only runner to have achieved this feat twice. In 2018-when, the ran his Personal Best of 7:58.15 in Monaco, and this year when he ran a blistering 7:58.15 on home soil at the Diamond League meet in Rabat. Before that, you would have to go way back to 2015 when Jarius Birech of Kenya ran 7:58.83. 

However, only one man can stand shoulder to shoulder with El Bakkali at this age. Lamecha Girma is the young Ethiopian who is on the verge of dethroning the newly-minted world champion. Girma is a maverick whose talent belies his age. The Ethiopian has run inside eight minutes three times this year already. And he’s only 21 years of age.

Born in Assela, the same area that produced stars such as Haile Gebrselassie, Kenenisa Bekele, Tirunesh Dibaba, and Derartu Tulu, Girma came into the limelight at a very young age. Once his primary school teachers noticed his unusual size and power in sport, he was urged to head to the capital city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to train alongside more developed athletes. 

Girma…