Chalu Deso Gelmisa (born 14 December 1997^[1]) is a long-distance runner from Ethiopia.^[1] He won the 2022 Paris Marathon and the 2023 Tokyo Marathon.^[3][4][1]

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Chalu Deso Gelmisa

Personal information
Nationality	Ethiopian
Born	(1997-12-14) 14 December 1997 (age 26)[1]
Sport
Sport	Athletics
Event	Marathon
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	Marathon: 2:04:53 (Valencia 2020)[1]
Medal record World Marathon Majors 2023 Tokyo Marathon

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External videos
Sprint finish at Tokyo Marathon in 2023[2]

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In 2017, Deso took part in the Route du Vin Half Marathon in Luxembourg, finishing in twelfth place with a time of 1:08:06.^[5][1]

In 2019, Deso placed second in the Castellón Marathon.^[6][1] He finished with a time of 2:13:12, nearly five minutes behind his compatriot Andualem Belay, who won the marathon.^[6] Eight months later, Deso won the 2019 Porto Marathon with a finish time of 2:09:08, nearly two minutes ahead of the second-place finisher.^[7][1] He broke away from the other runners about 4 km (2.5 mi) from the finish, and set a personal best by more than three minutes, though he missed breaking the course record by three seconds.^[7]

Deso set his personal best at the 2020 Valencia Marathon, which was held during the coronavirus pandemic and restricted to elite athletes.^[8][1] His finish time of 2:04:53 placed him sixth on the list of finishers.^[9][1] Deso returned to Valencia in later years, finishing second in 2021 with a time of 2:05:16.^[10][1] He lost by four seconds in a sprint finish to Kenyan Lawrence Cherono, who passed both Deso and third-place finisher Philemon Kacheran in the last 500 m (1,600 ft) of the race.^[11][10] Deso also ran the 2022 Valencia Marathon, placing sixth with a time of 2:04:56, three seconds slower than his personal record.^[12][1] He ran with the lead pack for most of the race, which was won by Kenyan Kelvin Kiptum in 2:01:53, the fastest debut marathon time ever.^[12]

In 2022, Deso won the Paris Marathon with a time of 2:05:07, sprinting to finish just three seconds ahead of compatriot Seifu Tura, who took second place.^[3][1] He ran the Sydney Marathon later that year, taking third place with a time of 2:07:09.^[13][1] That year, all three podium finishers had broken the previous Australian all-comers marathon record of 2:07:50.^[13]

Deso won the 2023 Tokyo Marathon with a sprint finish, beating compatriot Mohamed Esa by less than a second.^[4][1] Both Deso and Esa recorded a time of 2:05:22, and were closely followed by Ethiopian Tsegaye Getachew, whose time of 2:05:25 rounded out an Ethiopian podium sweep.^[14][15]