Tigist Assefa of Ethiopia broke the women’s marathon world record on Sunday by winning the Berlin Marathon and finishing in 2:11:53, more than two minutes faster than the previous mark.
Even though the world record still needs to go through the normal verification process, it was Brigid Kosgei’s previous time set at the 2019 Chicago Marathon by two minutes and 11 seconds. This was her second consecutive Berlin Marathon victory.
It was Assefa’s third-ever competitive marathon after switching from middle-distance running, making her a relative rookie to the race.
The first 15 kilometers of the race were incredibly fast, with all 12 of the leading ladies running at or below world record speed.
At the halfway stage of the race, Assefa was running more than a minute faster than the previous record while leading the pack by himself.
Finally, she finished nearly six minutes ahead of Sheila Chepkirui of Kenya in second and Magdalena Shauri of Tanzania in third, who also set a national record with her time of 2:18:41.
Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya, who finished the men’s race in 2:02:42—the sixth-fastest time of his career—won a record-breaking fifth victory.
Derseh Kindie nearly outran the two-time Olympic champion throughout the entire race, but he eventually outran the Ethiopian around 31 kilometers in and triumphed by 31 seconds.
Nine men who finished in under two hours this year at the Berlin Marathon set records, and eight women finished in under two hours.