Tigist Assefa obliterates women’s marathon world record in Berlin while Eliud Kipchoge makes history
By Issy Ronald, CNN
(CNN) — Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa obliterated the women’s marathon world record on Sunday as she won the Berlin Marathon, completing the course in 2:11:53 and shaving more than two minutes off the previous best.
It marked her second consecutive Berlin Marathon title, and a time that was two minutes and 11 seconds faster than Brigid Kosgei’s previous world record set at the 2019 Chicago Marathon, though it is still subject to the usual ratification procedure, according to World Athletics.
Still a relative newcomer to the distance, it was only Assefa’s third ever competitive marathon after she made the switch from middle-distance running.
It was a blistering race from the very start with the leading 12 women all running within world record pace through the opening 15 kilometers.
By the halfway point, Assefa was more than a minute inside world record pace and alone at the head of the race, streaking ahead of the field.
Eventually, she crossed the finish line almost six minutes ahead of Kenya’s Sheila Chepkirui in second and Tanzania’s Magdalena Shauri in third – who set a national record with her time of 2:18:41.
Meanwhile, Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge won a record fifth title in the men’s race, stopping the clock at 2:02:42, the fifth-fastest time of his career.
The two-time Olympic champion was challenged almost all the way by Derseh Kindie but he eventually outpaced the Ethiopian about 31 kilometers into the race and won by 31 seconds.
The speed of this year’s Berlin Marathon was underscored by a record nine men finishing inside 2:05 and a record eight women finishing inside 2:20.
The-CNN-Wire
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