Senbere Teferi of Ethiopia crosses the finish line to finish second in the Womens United Airlines NYC Half Marathon.Photo:Rich Schultz/Getty Images
Rich Schultz/Getty Images
An Olympic long-distance runner took a wrong turn at the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta on Tuesday, costing her the $10,000 prize.
Senbere Teferi — who has previously represented Ethiopia at the Rio and Tokyo Olympics — was close to the finish line when a police motorcyle she was trailing took a right turn off the course. Shortly afterwards, the 28-year-old Ethiopian runner also turned right.
In a statement onTwitter, the Peachtree Road Race confirmed that “defending champion” Teferi had been approaching the finish line when she “momentarily became confused and followed a police motorcycle when it turned off the course.”
- They added that the athlete “was within sight of the finish banner, but we understand that in the heat of competition instructions can be misinterpreted. As an organization, we are disappointed whenever we fall short of perfection, and in this case, it appears we did.”
Senbere Teferi looks on after winning the 2023 NYRR New York Mini 10K o.Mike Stobe/Getty Images
Mike Stobe/Getty Images
After the race, champion Tesfay expressed her distress at Teferi’s error.
“But after I saw that car turn, I saw the finish sign in front of me, so I pushed ahead,” Tesfay continued. “But I was really upset because I really planned to stick with Senbere at the finish.”
Teferi competed for Ethiopia in the 5000m event at the Rio and TokyoOlympics, securing fifth and sixth place, respectively. According toRunner’s Worldmagazine, Teferi had a 10-second advantage before the mistake and was on track for another win following her triumph at the New York Mini 10K last month.
“By the 8K mark, it was just Tesfay, Teferi, and Chelangat, with Teferi leading assertively until that fateful wrong turn,” the outlet said. Jesca Chelangat of Kenya finished second and another Kenyan, Dorcas Tuitoek, took fourth place behind Teferi.Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories
In a video interview, Peachtree Road Race director Rich Kenah toldCNNon Wednesday described the moment Teferi took the wrong turn as a “big disappointment,” adding “We’re very sorry for her — she was defending champion with about 150 meters to go in the heat of battle, if you will.”
“There was just a momentary lapse – as I look at the video – in judgment,” describing Teferi veering off course as “when you’re in that kind of a battle competitively, I think just your instincts take over and she took that right hand turn. She came off course and she just didn’t have enough time to recover to get back to first place.”
source: people.com
