Early career At age 18, Lamecha Girma earned the junior bronze medal in the 3,000 m steeplechase at the
2019 African Under-20 Championships. The same year, he set an Ethiopian national record in his specialist event during the
World Athletics Championships in
Doha with a time of 8:01.36. He finished second behind Olympic and world champion from Kenya
Conseslus Kipruto who ran 8:01.35; Morocco's
Soufiane El Bakkali came in third in 8:03.76.
Breakthrough and Olympic silver medal At the delayed
2020 Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Lamecha won the silver medal with a
8:10.38 clocking. This time El Bakkali finished first in 8:08.90 while third-placed
Benjamin Kigen achieved 8:11.45. Girma became
2022 World Indoor Championship silver medallist at the
3,000 metres in
Belgrade. He ran
7:41.63 while his compatriot
Selemon Barega clocked 7:41.38 for gold, and
Marc Scott was third in 7:42.02. A few months later in July, at the
World Championships held in
Eugene, Oregon, Girma had to settle for silver once again in his signature event, finishing behind El Bakkali who ran 8:25.13 and ahead of Kipruto in third in 8:27.92.
World indoor and outdoor records On 15 February 2023, he smashed the 25-year-old world indoor 3,000 m record at the
2023 Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais in
Liévin with a time of 7:23.81, slicing 1.09 seconds off the previous mark held by
Daniel Komen since 1998. Girma's record has since been broken by
Grant Fisher, who ran 7:22.91 in 2025. On 9 June 2023, Girma broke the world 3,000 m steeplechase record at the
Meeting de Paris of the
Diamond League with a time of 7:52:11, which was 1.52 seconds faster than the 19-year-old previous world record of 7:53.63 set by
Saif Saaeed Shaheen. He was clearly in the lead with two laps to go before speeding up around the final lap, which he ran in about 64 seconds, to cross the finish line with the new fastest time. After the race, he expressed his happiness and stated that he had planned to beat the world record that night.
Paris Olympics At the
2024 Paris Olympics, on 7 August, Girma was among the favorites to win gold in the
3000 m steeplechase final, along with Moroccan
Soufiane El Bakkali. However, in the bell lap, on the back straightaway jump, Girma suffered a fall that knocked him unconscious. Girma was carried off the track in a stretcher, and was hospitalized for treatment. His coach indicated shortly after the race that the injury was not life-threatening, but that Girma would need some time to recover. ==Personal life and family==