ETHIOPIAN Tigst Assefa took women’s marathon running into the realms of incredibility when she stopped the clock at a sensational 2 hours, 11 minutes and 53 seconds at today’s Berlin Marathon. The time took more than two minutes off Kenyan Brigid Kosgei’s world record of 2:14:04 from the 2019 Chicago Marathon and she won by nearly six minutes over Kenyan Sheila Chepkirui. Britain’s Charlotte Purdue was ninth in a personal best 2:22:17.
“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.
To put the new record into perspective, no man broke 2:12 until 1967 when Australian Derek Clayton, who grew up in Belfast, recorded 2:09:37 in Fukuoka, Japan on 3 December. Assefa’s time would have been good enough to win the men’s marathon at Olympic Games as recent as 1992 (2:13:23) and 1996 (2:12:36).
Assefa was a surprise winner of the Berlin Marathon last year when she ran 2:15:37. It was then the third-fastest women’s time ever and her victory was unexpected in that her only previous marathon time then was 2:34:01. Before that, as an 800m runner, she was eliminated in the heats at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
In the men’s race, two-time Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge won his fifth Berlin title in 2:02:42, the eighth-fastest time in history. That was some atonement for the world record holder (2:01:09) following a sixth-place finish in Boston back in April. Kipchoge was on for the record at halfway (1:00:22) but slowed, relatively speaking, in the final ten kilometres when he was alone at the front of the field.
“I was expecting to do the same [as in 2022], but it did not come as I expected, but that’s how sport is,” said Kipchoge, who won by 91 seconds. “At the end of it, a little bit of hiccups, but it’s normal in the race.”
The victory also means that Kipchoge has won 16 out of his 19 marathons and holds five of the fastest eight times in history. The 38-year-old is now almost certain of being selected to Kenya’s team for the 2024 Paris Olympics, where he will target becoming the first person to win three Olympic marathons. Some doubts had been expressed about his inclusion after Boston and the fact that he will turn 39 in November. Kenyan officials have not announced whether they will name the Olympic team before or after the spring marathon season next year.
