born in welega in ethiopia, she demonstrated her potential as an endurance runner with a third-place finish at the great ethiopian run. she began competing on the european circuit the following year and won the le mans cross country race before placing second at the european clubs cross country cup. she ran at iaaf diamond league meetings that summer and set a 3000 metres track best of 8:40.73 minutes at the herculis meet and a personal best time of 14:58.16 minutes for the 5000 metres at the meeting areva. belaynesh found success on the roads that year, having runner-up finishes at the 10 km du conseil général and marseille-cassis classic, a third place in the zhuhai half marathon, and a win at the nice half marathon (where she set a best of 1:10:22 hours). she ended the year with a third place at the sao silvestre de luanda in angola.