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Ebba Tulu Chala

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Ebba Tulu Chala
Personal information
NationalitySwedish
Born (1996-06-22) 22 June 1996 (age 30)
Sport
SportTrack and Field
Event
marathon
ClubKeep Up RC

Ebba Tulu Chala (born 22 June 1996)[1] is a Swedish athlete who competes in the marathon. He was born in Ethiopia and emigrated as a child.

Early life

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Chala is an Oromo from near Bekoji, where the altitude is between 2,500 and 3,000 metres.[2] and although he was not a runner, he walked between one and two hours each way to school. He found his way to refugee accommodation in Salem, near Stockholm, where he stayed for a year.[2] Two months after his arrival, at Sågbäcksgymnasiet [sv], his school in Huddinge Municipality, he tried running and discovered he was very fast.[3]

Running career

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Three weeks after his discovery, Chala was entered by his teacher in a 10,000 m race at Nacka, and came third with a time of 32.22.[3] Since 2015, he has won one bronze and four silver medals at the Swedish Athletics Championships,[1] his first for the marathon being silver in 2019.[4]

At the Seville Marathon in February 2020, he reached the international qualifying standard for the Summer Olympics as well as the World Athletics Championships with a personal best time of 2:11:18;[4][5] however, the Swedish Olympic standard is lower, at 2 hours, 11 minutes.[6] Sidelined by injuries after that, he returned to run the Stockholm Marathon in 2021 and in early 2022 trained in Ethiopia together with the Iranian-Swedish marathoner Mohammad Reza [sv].[4] He was not selected for the 2021 Olympics.[7]

Initially threatened with deportation,[3] Chala became a naturalised Swedish citizen on 15 May 2022.[1]

He was selected for the Swedish team to compete over 1500 metres at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan, in September 2025.[8]

In August 2026, he competed at the 2026 European Athletics Championships in Birmingham, England, placing thirteenth overall in the men's marathon.[9] The following month, Chala won the 30km race at the TCS Lidingöloppet in Lidingö, Sweden, as the World Athletics Cross Country Tour season began on 26 September.[10]

References

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  1. 1 2 3 "Ebba Tulu Chala". Friidrottsstatistik.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 8 August 2022.
  2. 1 2 Åkeson, Claes (26 November 2016). "Från flykting till elit: RW möter Ebba Tulu Chala". Runner's World (in Swedish).
  3. 1 2 3 Dickson, Staffan (29 October 2013) [24 September 2015]. "Löparlöftet kan utvisas". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 8 August 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 Nesi, Lorenzo (21 February 2022). "Ebba under VM-kvalgränsen i Sevilla". Marathon.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 8 August 2022.
  5. ↑ Grip, Mikael (23 February 2020). "Svenskt maratonrekord av Mustafa Mohamed!". Spring: Löpning för alla (in Swedish). Retrieved 8 August 2022.
  6. ↑ Nesi, Lorenzo (23 February 2020). "Hanna, Ebba och Micke så nära OS-gränsen". Marathon.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 8 August 2022.
  7. ↑ Nesi, Lorenzo [@CoachLN] (2 July 2021). "The list of 17 qualified marathon runners who by various reasons will not participate at the #Olympics2021" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  8. ↑ "Duplantis among 17 Swedish athletes preparing for 2025 World Championships". Flashscore. 25 June 2025. Retrieved 3 September 2025.
  9. ↑ "European Athletics Championships". World Athletics. 10 August 2026. Retrieved 19 August 2026.
  10. ↑ "Ntakarutimana, Niyomukunzi, Henriksson and Chala win as Cross Country Tour kicks off in Lidingö". World Athletics. 26 September 2026. Retrieved 29 September 2026.
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