Ethiopian athlete Abadi Hadis has died aged 22.Hadis had been in Hayder Hospital in Mekelle, northern Ethiopia being treated for an unspecified illness.
The long-distance runner was ranked 12th in the world in the men’s 10,000 meters and 21st in the 5,000 meters.
Hadis made his big breakthrough in 2016. At just 17, he ran a 13:02.49 and 26:57.88 in the 5000m and 10,000 meters respectively.
In 2017, while still a teenager, he finished third in the senior men’s race at the World Cross Country Championships in Kampala, leading Ethiopia to the team gold medal. He went on to finish seventh in the 10,000m at the World Championships in London later that year.
Hadis went on to record a 5000m personal best of 12:56.27 in 2018 and followed it with a half marathon best of 58:44.
He replicated that half marathon time at the start of 2019 and followed it with a 26:56.46 10,000m personal best in Hengelo.
His last competition was the World Athletics Championships Doha 2019, where he exited in the heats of the 5000m.
He is one of just five men in history to have bettered 13 minutes for 5000 meters, 27 minutes for 10,000 meters and 59 minutes for the half marathon. Sce sun