Ethiopian runner breaks women's marathon world record

GERMANY Coming in first at the 2023 Berlin Marathon after 2 hours, 11 minutes and 53 seconds, 26-year-old runner Tigist Assefa broke the women's marathon world record with a gap of more than two minutes and successfully defended the title.

Last year, Assefa made a splash when he won the Berlin Marathon with a time of 2 hours, 15 minutes and 37 seconds, in the second time running the distance of 42.195km. At that time, she achieved the third best performance in history, only behind the record of Kenyan athlete Brigid Kosgei with 2 hours 14 minutes 4 seconds at the 2019 Chicago Marathon, and Britain's Paula Radcliffe with 2 hours 15 minutes 25 seconds at the London Marathon. 2003.

Assefa knelt down on the running track after completing the 2023 Berlin Marathon on September 24 with a world record result. Photo: Berlin Marathon

Returning to the German capital a year later, Assefa broke both of her predecessors' milestones, setting a new milestone with 2 minutes and 11 seconds faster than Kosgei's old record, and also became the first female runner. run a sub2:12 marathon (under 2 hours 12 minutes).

The 2023 Berlin Marathon is Assafa's third time participating in a marathon. Before her two runs in Berlin, she first competed in the distance of 42.195km in Riyadh in March 2022, and finished seventh with 2 hours 34 minutes 1 second. Earlier this year, she scheduled to run the London Marathon but did not attend due to tendonitis. "Breaking the record with such results was something I did not expect, but in some ways, I wanted to set a new milestone," the Ethiopian runner said after successfully defending the title in Berlin on May 24. 9.

Assefa finished first, setting a world record at the 2023 Berlin Marathon.

The 2023 Berlin Marathon women's event got off to an impressive start, with a large number of runners soon separating from the top, passing the 5km mark in 15 minutes 58 seconds. At the 10 km mark, there were still 13 runners following the leader.

The difference was gradually created when Assefa and compatriot Workenesh Edesa took 47 minutes and 26 seconds to pass the 15 km mark, thereby creating a small gap with Kenya's Sheila Chepkirui, Ethiopian athletes who won the 2015 world 5,000m silver medal Senbere Teferi and Zeineba Yimer. 12 other runners were left behind, but only with a gap of 15 seconds and all ran at world record speeds.

Realizing that his opponents were somewhat exhausted, Assefa controlled the race better, "cutting off" his last opponent Edesa at the 17 km mark and leaving only a few male pacers ahead. The Ethiopian runner became more and more confident and crossed the halfway stage with a time of 1 hour, 6 minutes and 20 seconds - a speed that would help her break the world record by more than a minute if maintained until the end of the stage.

Then Assefa continued to accelerate, running the next kilometer in 2 minutes 48 seconds - the fastest speed since the beginning of the race to deepen the gap between Edesa and Chepkirui. She crossed the 30 km mark with 1 hour 34 minutes 12 seconds - the second best achievement in history at this mark, only behind Ruth Chepngetich's 1 hour 34 minutes and 1 second at the 2022 Chicago Marathon.

Assefa's parameters through splits on the Berlin Marathon 2023 route. Photo: CitiusMag

But while Chepngetich was exhausted in last year's race, Assefa grew stronger in the sprint phase in Berlin. She crossed the 40 km mark in 2 hours, 5 minutes and 13 seconds and reached the finish line in record time.

Chepkirui maintained second place with a time of 2 hours, 17 minutes and 49 seconds, while Tanzania's Magdalena Shauri made a strong breakthrough to finish third with a national record of 2 hours, 18 minutes and 41 seconds. Berlin Marathon 2023 also witnessed a record number of eight female runners finishing in under 2 hours 20 minutes.

Berlin Marathon is an annual running event that takes place in the city of Berlin, a member of the six largest running tournaments on the planet - World Marathon Majors (WMM), in addition to tournaments in New York, Boston, Chicago, London and Tokyo.

According to Runner's World , Berlin is an ideal place for runners to conquer world records, partly thanks to the flattest track among the six most prestigious marathons on the planet and having a pacer. Since 2003, the men's marathon world record has been broken eight times, and all in Berlin. Meanwhile, Assefa is the first runner to set a female world record on this track, since Japan's Naoko Takahashi in 2001.

Berlin Marathon 2023 recorded 47,912 runners from 156 countries and territories participating.