| Bazu Worku | |
| Birth Date: | 15 September 1990 |
| Birth Place: | Mekelle, Ethiopia |
Bazu Worku (born 15 September 1990) is a long-distance runner from Ethiopia who competes in marathon races.
Worku made his first appearances on the road running circuit in 2008: he was third in the 15 km race at the Istanbul Eurasia Marathon in October,[1] and registered a personal best at the Delhi Half Marathon. He improved his half marathon best at the Paris Half Marathon in March 2009, winning the race in a time of 1:01:56.[2]
On 5 April 2009 at the Paris Marathon, Worku ran his debut marathon in 2:06:15 to finish as runner-up to Vincent Kipruto of Kenya.[3] This was the fastest time ever run for an 18-year-old over the distance.[4] Worku ran at the Ottawa Marathon in May 2010 and placed third, twenty seconds adrift of winner Arata Fujiwara.[5] He improved his personal best time at the 2010 Berlin Marathon, running 2:05:25 to take third place.[4] He ran at the national 30 km championships but was beaten into second place by Azmeraw Bekele.[6] He was selected for the World Championship Marathon in 2011 but failed to finish the race.
He ran at three high-profile marathons in 2012. He ran a season's best of 2:07:48 at the Dubai Marathon and also entered the 2012 London Marathon, but did not make the top ten in either race. He was runner-up at the Chinese Lanzhou Marathon then managed fifth at the Frankfurt Marathon.[7] He began 2013 with wins at the Houston Marathon and Grandma's Marathon in the United States.[8] He was close to third victory at the Eindhoven Marathon, but was beaten to the top spot by Yemane Tsegay.[9]
Worku won the 2018 Houston Marathon in 2:08:30, one minute ahead of second-place finisher (and training partner) Yitayal Atnafu, who was followed closely by Elisha Barno.[10] Worku won $45,000 for the first-place finish.[11]
| Event | Time (h:m:s) | Venue | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 km | 28:21 | New Delhi, India | 9 Nov 2008 | |
| 1:01:56 | Paris, France | 8 Mar 2009 | ||
| 2:05:25 | Berlin, Germany | 26 Sep 2010 |