1,000-meter runner is first Druze athlete to set Israeli record
Druze athlete Karawan Halabi made history on Wednesday when she completed a 1,000-meter race in 2:43:99 minutes, becoming the first Druze athlete to break an Israeli record.
Halabi, 27, broke the previous record of 2:46.03 set by Edna Lankri 25 years ago.
Sharing her excitement in an interview on Kan Radio on Thursday, Halabi said she “felt elated” with her success.
“I tried to break that record a few weeks ago and couldn’t,” she said. “It was hard, mentally and physically. Yesterday I was finally able to do it, beating the previous record by more than two seconds, which is relatively a lot.
When asked if she considered her Druze identity to play a role in her success in any way, Halabi said it posed challenges.
“It’s being a woman and also being part of the Druze community, which is conservative and not very sport conscious…especially in the north,” she said. “But I succeeded despite the challenges.”
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כרואן חלבי אלופה!בזכות עבודד קשקש, כיששון בב, צצון ותמדתמדתמד, נשבנשב היום ששיא היששאלי בבלצ בבל-ה בבלצ הלצלצ 10 לל-ה ר לצלצ
את גאווה לעדה ולכל מדינת ישראל! pic.twitter.com/Hmn1jYpkV3
—Hamad Ammar (@Hamadammar41) February 16, 2022
Along with her successful sports career at the Maccabi Haifa sports club, Halabi is also a biomedical engineering student at the Technion in Haifa, ranked among the top universities in the Middle East.
“A normal day for me includes morning and evening workouts and my intermediate studies,” she said. “I don’t really have a rest between them.”
“Sometimes I feel like I need more rest, but I know it’s only temporary and I keep trying to connect the two worlds in the best way possible,” he said. she adds.
Looking to the future, Halabi hopes to one day make it to the Olympics.
She said she had already started training for the Olympic 1,500m and 800m races. “I’m stepping up to the next level so I can qualify for the European Championship and eventually, hopefully, the Olympics,” she said.
Halabi hails from the Druze town of Daliyat al-Karmel in northern Israel. Home to more than 17,000 Druze, it is the locality with the largest Druze population in Israel.
The Druze population in Israel comprises over 140,000 people, the majority of whom identify as ethnically Arab and reside in the northern regions of the country. The Druze community in Israel is known for its loyalty to the state. Most eligible Druze serve in the Israeli army.