Having Lived as a Refugee in Childhood, 41-Year-Old Swiss Runner Continues to Inspire With His Record-Breaking Victory in the Barcelona Marathon

The sport of track and field is filled with stories of resilience as it witnesses the rise of a new hero every other day. It’s the determination of athletes that makes the sport so alluring, and it just keeps getting better every day. One such story of hard work and perseverance comes from Swiss soil, where a 41-year-old marathon runner has melted everyone’s heart with his recent track success at the Barcelona Marathon.

Not only did he win the race, but the veteran shattered quite a few records as well. It’s his never-give-up attitude that is garnering all the appreciation in the world, as the seasoned campaigner has had a tough upbringing when he had to live as a refugee in Switzerland before getting the citizenship of the European nation. Overcoming all the odds, the runner stood atop the podium of the famed competition and won every athletics fan’s heart out there.

Elevating track and field one step at a time

Living by the quote “age is just a number”, Tadesse Abraham reigned supreme at the Zurich Barcelona Marathon, which concluded on Sunday. Race was organized in the hearts of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, where he etched his name in history. The Swiss hero clocked an incredible time of 2:05.01, setting a new national and course record. His dominance was so pronounced that the Eritrean-born runner took the lead at the 30 km mark, and there was no one in the frame for the rest of the race. European Athletics posted the update on their X handle when the athlete recorded an impressive speed of 2:57/km.

The track and field prodigy entered the marathon with his personal best of 2:05.10, that he clocked at the BMW Berlin Marathon. The course record of 2:05.06, set by Marius Kimutai of Bahrain, was also shattered by Abraham’s record-breaking run. Kenyan runners Collins Kipkirui Kipkorir with 2:06.44 and Edmond Kipngetich with 2:07.21 shared the second and third spots, respectively. In spite of being a champion now, Abraham had to go through some tough times during his early days, and he faced some significant challenges back in the day.

A story that needs to be heard

The track and field sensation has a very interesting story about how he started as a runner; it was due to his bike breaking and his parents could not afford to get it fixed, for which he had to walk all the way to his school, and then he started running. Eritrea has a tradition of cycling, and Abraham also wanted to pursue cycling as his career. He shifted to Switzerland to seek asylum; it happened due to the political tensions in his home country, and he later became a citizen of Switzerland in 2014.

However, his initial days on Swiss soil were not a bed of roses, and being a foreigner, he had to struggle a lot in the beginning. Nonetheless, later, the Geneva-based runner resumed his track and field endeavors, and there has been no looking back since then. He now aims to make it big at the Olympics and wants to run the marathon with everything he has.

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