Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa Breaks Women’s Marathon World Record In Berlin

September 24, 2023September 24, 2023 admin 0 Comments

Ethiopian Tigst Assefa shattered the women’s marathon world record, clocking 2 hours, 11 minutes, 53 seconds to repeat as Berlin Marathon champion on Sunday.

Assefa took more than two minutes off Kenyan Brigid Kosgei’s world record of 2:14:04 from the 2019 Chicago Marathon. She won by nearly six minutes over Kenyan Sheila Chepkirui.

“That I broke the record with such a result was not expected for me, but in some form, I wanted to break the record,” Assefa said through a translator.

READ ALSO: win-lagos-marathon-race/”>17-Year-Old Beats Sowore, Others To win Lagos Marathon Race

Assefa came from nowhere to win last year’s Berlin Marathon in 2:15:37, then the third-fastest women’s time in history. Her lone marathon time before that was 2:34:01 (in a race that she ran while injured). Before that, she ran the 800m and was eliminated in the heats at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

ALSO READ: Novak Djokovic To Lose World No.1 Spot To Daniil Medvedev After Shock Defeat To World No.123 Jiri Vesely

This was Assefa’s third career marathon. She scratched before April’s London Marathon due to tendonitis, according to race organizers.

Berlin is known as the world’s fastest major marathon course for its pancake-flat roads and usually optimal weather.

Also Sunday, Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge, the men’s world record holder, won his fifth Berlin title in 2:02:42, the fifth-fastest men’s time in history.

Kipchoge, who last year in Berlin lowered his world record by 30 seconds to 2:01:09, rebounded Sunday from a sixth-place finish in his previous marathon in Boston on April 17.