Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa smashes women’s marathon world record in Berlin.
Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa smashed the women’s marathon world record as she won Sunday’s race in Berlin.
Assefa, who also won last year’s race, crossed the line in a time of two hours, 11 minutes and 53 seconds.
The 29-year-old took more than two minutes off the previous record of 2:14.04 – set by Kenya’s Brigid Kosgei in Chicago in 2019.
Double Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge was the men’s winner for a record fifth time in Berlin with a run of 2:02.42.
The 38-year-old Kenyan set the men’s record of 2:01.09 in Berlin last year, when he tied with Ethiopian great Haile Gebrselassie on four wins.
Assefa’s winning time is the 13th world record to be set in Berlin, where she won last year in 2:15.37 – at the time was the third fastest women’s time in history.
A former 800m specialist, Assefa only started racing marathons in April last year.
She made her intentions clear on her return to Berlin, setting a lightning-quick early pace before reaching the halfway mark in one hour six minutes 20 seconds.
One of six women to be on world record pace at that stage, Assefa maintained that speed to streak clear and at the 37km mark she was just three seconds per kilometre slower than Kipchoge’s time at the same stage.
