Early career Birhanu started competing internationally in 2015. In 2016 Birhanu competed in his first
Olympic Games at the
2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games. He placed 9th in the men's 5000m Final clocking a time of 13:09.26. The race was won by Great Britain's
Mo Farah in 13:03.30.
2017 Birhanu's first race of 2017 came on 17 January at the Kuwait City Half Marathon, where he won in a personal best time of 1:01:45. On 26 March, Birhanu represented
Bahrain at the 2017
World Cross Country Championships in
Kampala, Uganda. In the Senior race Birhanu placed 27th. On 25 and 26 April Birhanu won both the 10000m and 5000m at the Doha EMIR Cup in 31:16.51 and 13:52.39 respectively. On 5 May Birhanu competed in his first
Diamond League Meeting of the season running 7:52.98 to place 14th in
Doha, Qatar. Birhanu then returned to the roads to race the
Okpekpe Road Race 10 km in
Nigeria, placing 10th in 31:15. Birhanu then won three 5000m races in a Europe before going to
London to compete in the
2017 World Championships in Athletics. In
London Birhanu qualified to the final of the 5000m, and finished 12th in a time of 13:43.25; the race was won by Ethiopia's
Muktar Edris. Birhanu won two more 5000m before his final competition of the year at the Sao Paulo Corrida de Sao Silvestre 15 km in
Sao Paulo, Brazil.
2018 In 2018 Birhanu represented his country at the 2018
World Indoor Championships in
Birmingham, United Kingdom over 3000m. After qualifying to the final, Birhanu placed 10th in 8:18.89. Birhanu won a 5000m at the
Shanghai Diamond League on 12 May in 13:09.64, and raced 2miles at the
Prefontaine Classic in
Eugene, Oregon, USA on 25 May, placing 3rd in 8:21.54. On 5 July Birhanu won the 5000m at the
Lausanne Diamond League Meeting. LRunning in third place into the final 200m, race leader
Yomif Kejelcha fell at grabbed
Selemon Barega's shorts, pulling him out of the inside lane, while Birhanu ran by to win in a time of 13:01.09. On 30 August Birhanu represented his country at the
2018 Asian Games in
Jakarta, Indonesia. Birhanu won the 5000m in a time of 13:43.17.
2019–20 Birhanu started his 2019 track season running indoors in
France. On 2 February he won the 3000m at the Meeting National, Mondeville, and on 10 February he won the 2000m at the
Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais. On 30 March Birhanu represented his country at the 2019
World Cross Country Championships in
Aarhus, Denmark. Birhanu finished 19th in the senior men's race, which was won by Uganda's
Joshua Cheptegei. Birhanu then won both the
Arab Championships in
Cairo, Egypt and the
Asian Championships in
Doha, Qatar over the 5000m. On 18 May Birhanu finished 4th at the
Shanghai Diamond League 5000m running a time of 13:05.04. On 6 June Birhanu finished 4th at the
Golden Gala-Pietro Minnea in
Rome, clocking a personal best of 12:56.26; his first sub-13 minute 5000m clocking. Birhanu contested several
Diamond League Meetings over the summer before his next global championships at the
2019 World Championships in Athletics in
Doha, Qatar. On 30 September after qualifying for the final Birhanu placed 9th in 13:14.66; the race was won by Ethiopia's
Muktar Edris. On 26 October Birhanu won the 5000m at the CISM
Military World Games in
Wuhan, China in a time of 14:08.99. Birhanu only had a short 2020 track season racing indoors between 31 January and 21 February.
2021–present Birhanu began his 2021 track season by competing indoor over 3000m at the
Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais; he finished 5th in an Asian Record of 7:34.58. On 19 May Birhanu raced 10000m at the 60th
Ostrava Golden Spike in
Ostrava, Czech Republic. Birhanu finished 2nd in 27:07.49, and new personal best and national record. Uganda's
Jacob Kiplimo won the race in 26:33.93 Birhanu's race in
Ostrava qualified him for the 10000m at the
2020 Tokyo Olympic Games; he had already qualified for the 5000m. Birhanu's next race was at the
Golden Gala-Pietra Minnea in
Florence, Italy. Birhanu placed 7th in 12:57.71; At the
2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, Birhanu represented Bahrain in the 5000m and 10,000 metre competitions, but did not advance from the heat stage in the 5000m. Birhanu finished 17th in the 10,000m. ==References==