Firehiwot Dado

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Firehiwot Tufa Dado, born January 9, 1984 in Assela, Ethiopia, is a prominent Ethiopian long-distance runner. She won the New York City Marathon in 2011 with a personal best of 2:23:15 and claimed the Rome City Marathon title three times in a row (2009, 2010, 2011), with her fastest Rome finish being 2:24:13 in 2011. She also had notable early successes, including winning the 2008 Casablanca Women’s Run and finishing runner-up on her marathon debut at the Košice Peace Marathon. In 2009 she shocked the field by winning Rome again in 2:27:08 after a late invitation, and later that year finished fourth at the Frankfurt Marathon. She set a Boulogne-Billancourt Half Marathon course record in 2009 with 1:09:26.

In 2010 she had a strong season, with a fifth-place finish at the Mumbai Marathon, a Rome Marathon win in 2:25:28, a course record at the Fifth Third River Bank Run 25K, and a Florence Marathon victory by almost two minutes. She solidified her status with another Rome win in 2011 (2:24:13) and her NYC Marathon triumph (2:23:15). In 2012 she set a New York City Half Marathon course record of 1:08:35 and finished fourth at the Boston Marathon. She also won the Prague Marathon in 2014 with a time of 2:23:34, as six Ethiopians finished in the top six in the women’s race.