Gudaf Tsegay Desta (Amharic: ጉዳፉ ፀጋይ ደስታ; born 23 June 1997)[2] is an Ethiopian middle- and long-distance runner.

[3] She is the current women’s world record holder for 5,000 m (14:00.21), set at the 2023 final Diamond League event, the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon.

Two years later, Gudaf broke the world U20 indoor record in this event with a time of 4:01.81 in Glasgow, beating previous best set by compatriot Kalkidan Gezahegne in 2010 by more than a second.

[5] At the World Indoor Championships held in Portland, Oregon, she won the bronze medal in 4:05.71 behind only Sifan Hassan representing the Netherlands (4:04.96) and Dawit (4:05.30).

[12] The next year, she earned her first overall 1500 m World Indoor Tour victory, winning races at the Copernicus Cup in Toruń, Poland, Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais in Liévin, France and Villa de Madrid in Spain.

[22] Also in March, Gudaf continued her record-breaking form, dominating in her specialist event at the World Indoor Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia.

It was the first time one country swept the medals in any discipline, and the seventh successive Ethiopian women's victory in the event, at the World Athletics Indoor Championships.

[23] Her best success of that year came in July at the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, where she won two medals including her first global outdoor title.

Five days later, she claimed the gold medal for the closely-run 5,000 m race with a time of 14:46.29, ahead of Beatrice Chebet in 14:46.75 and compatriot Dawit Seyaum (14:47.36).

[24] Gudaf doubled up at the Diamond League final in Zürich in September, placing third in the 5 kilometres road race and sixth in the 1,500 m event.

[27] Later that year, in July, Gudaf competed at the London Diamond League where she outsprinted a strong field including Sifan Hassan, Beatrice Chebet and Medina Eisa to win, setting a new 5000 m personal best of 14:12.29.

[33] At the World Indoor Championships held in Glasgow, Gudaf won silver in the 3000 m, being outrun by Elle St. Pierre over the last 50 m.[34] She competed in her first outdoor race of the season on 20 April at the Xiamen Diamond League, where she ran the a new personal best of 3:50.30 over 1500 m which put her third on the all-time top lists.

[35] On 25 May, at the Prefontaine Classic, Gudaf made an attempt to break the 10,000 metres world record of 29:01.03 set by Letesenbet Gidey of Ethiopia in 2021.