[News Figures] Ethiopian 'Tigist Asefa' Sets New Women's Marathon World Record

World Record Set at Berlin Marathon
From 800m National Track Athlete to Rising Marathon Star

'2 hours 11 minutes 53 seconds'

On the 24th (local time), a new women's marathon record was set at the Berlin Marathon in Germany. The athlete who improved the previous record by 2 minutes is Ethiopia's Tigst Assefa. According to BBC and Deutsche Welle, Assefa cut the women's world record set in 2019 of 2 hours 14 minutes 04 seconds by 2 minutes 11 seconds at this year's Berlin Marathon.

Tigst Assefa Ethiopian Marathon Runner
Photo by Xinhua News Agency

Started in 1974 and held every September, the Berlin Marathon is regarded as one of the world's major marathons alongside the Boston Marathon in the USA and the London Marathon in the UK. Foreign media reported that Assefa ran at a fast pace from the beginning of the race, creating a large gap between her and her competitors. In particular, she was already more than a minute ahead of the world record at the halfway point and maintained a significant distance from other competitors, running alone in front. In fact, she crossed the finish line more than 6 minutes ahead of Kenya's Sheila Chepkirui and Tanzania's Magdalena Shauri, who finished second and third respectively.

Assefa is almost a newcomer to the marathon. Born in 1996, she was originally a promising African track athlete specializing in the 800m. She won a bronze medal in the 800m at the 2013 African Junior Championships and continued to place in African athletics competitions, representing Ethiopia at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

However, Assefa began preparing for marathons in 2018 and officially switched events after appearing in major competitions starting in April last year. She won the Berlin Marathon in September last year, her first major marathon, with a time of 2 hours 15 minutes 37 seconds. BBC reported that this was the third-fastest time in women's marathon history at that time. This time, Assefa improved her personal best from last year's Berlin Marathon by 3 minutes 44 seconds. Since she broke the world record shortly after starting marathon running, expectations are growing that the women's marathon record will continue to be broken.

Assefa said, "I did not expect to run this fast," but added, "It is the result of hard work." She also said, "I am very happy. I wanted to break the marathon world record, but I never imagined cutting it by 2 minutes 11 seconds."

Meanwhile, in the men's marathon held on the same day, Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge, who set the men's record (2 hours 1 minute 9 seconds) at the same event last year, achieved his fifth consecutive victory. Kipchoge's time this year was 2 hours 2 minutes 42 seconds.