Tete Dijana
Tete Morena Dijana (born 1988) is a South African ultramarathon runner who won the Comrades Marathon in 2022 and 2023.[3][2][4][1][5]
Personal information | |
---|---|
Nationality | South African |
Born | 1988 (age 34–35)[2] |
Originally from Mahikeng in the North West province, Dijana quit his job as a security guard at North-West University to focus on running.[6][4][7]
Career
In his debut Comrades Marathon in 2019, Dijana finished in 50th place with a time of 6:25:03 and earned a silver medal.[2][6][4][lower-alpha 1]
Dijana joined the Nedbank Running Club in 2022.[6] He finished second in the 2022 Nedbank Breaking Barriers 50 km, one place ahead of Edward Mothibi, a Nedbank teammate and the winner of the 2019 Comrades Marathon.[6]
At the 2022 Comrades Marathon, Dijana and Mothibi ran together as the race leaders during part of the second half of the race.[4] Eventually, Dijana broke away with less than 10 km (6.2 mi) to go, and won the race with a time of 5:30:38, over three minutes ahead of Mothibi, who finished in second place.[9][3][4][lower-alpha 2]
Tete Dijana and Gerda steyn had a record-breaking run at 2023 Comrades Marathon as they emerged as winners in the Men and Women categories.
Notes
- At the Comrades Marathon, a finish time under 7:30 qualifies a runner for a silver medal or better.[8]
- This was Dijana's second Comrades Marathon; the race was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.[10][6][1]
References
- "Tete Morena Dijana wins men's race in just his second Comrades".
- "DUV Ultra Marathon Statistics".
- "Comrades Live Results".
- "LIVE | SA's Dijana, Russia's Morozova crowned 2022 Comrades Marathon …".
- "Morena DIJANA | Profile | World Athletics".
- "Nedbank Running Club - Nedbank running clubs Dijana looking for Comra…".
- "Comrades Marathon result: Tete Dijana storms to victory".
- "The nine medals you can win at the Comrades Marathon - Canadian Runni…".
- "Update | Tete Dijana and Alexandra Morozova win Comrades 2022 | Witne…".
- "Comrades Marathon cancelled in its centenary year due to COVID-19".