Tigist Assefa broke the ladies’s world document by greater than two minutes Sunday on the Berlin Marathon, as Eliud Kipchoge received the lads’s race for the fifth time however could not break his personal document.
Ethiopian runner Assefa, the winner in Berlin a yr in the past, ran the race in 2 hours, 11 minutes, 53 seconds to interrupt the earlier ladies’s document of two:14:04 set by Kenya’s Brigid Kosgei on the Chicago Marathon in 2019.
Assefa sank to her knees after crossing the road and raised her arms, then celebrated with the flag of Ethiopia. She was practically six minutes away from another runner in Sunday’s marathon, with Sheila Chepkirui of Kenya second in 2:17:49 and Tanzania’s Magdalena Shauri third in 2:18:41.
Assefa as soon as specialised in shorter occasions on the observe and competed within the heats of the 800 meters on the 2016 Olympics, however discovered way more success after switching to highway working in recent times. She ran her first marathon in March 2022 in Riyadh earlier than profitable in Berlin in a course-record time of two:15:37 final yr.
The Berlin course is a favourite for runners chasing world data due to its flat terrain and funky climate. It is seen a succession of males’s data tumble over the past 20 years, however Assefa was the primary to interrupt the ladies’s world document within the German capital since 2001.
Within the males’s occasion, Kipchoge ran alone from 32 kilometers (20 miles) onward after Ethiopia’s Derseh Kindie dropped away, however slowed barely towards the tip. His time of two hours, 2 minutes, 42 seconds was greater than a minute and a half off the document he set in Berlin final yr.
Kipchoge’s fellow Kenyan Vincent Kipkemoi was second in 2:03:13 with Tadese Takele of Ethiopia shut behind in 2:03:24.