Ethiopian long-distance runner Tigist Assefa accomplished a near-unfathomable feat on Sunday morning when she won the BMW Berlin Marathon, smashing the previous women’s world record by 2 minutes and 11 seconds.
Assefa, a former 800m champion, becomes the first Ethiopian woman to hold the world record for women’s marathon, and the first woman in history to break 2 hour and 12 minutes in a marathon race.
The 26-year old raced through the Brandenburg Gates in Germany’s capital to reach the finishing line on Sunday morning, completing the 42 kilometres race in a time of 2 hours 11 minutes and 53 seconds.
“It’s the result of hard work which I’ve put in over the last year,” Assefa said post-race, via an interpreter. “I didn’t expect to break the record by such a margin, but I did think I could break it.”
Assefa was so far ahead of her closest rival, Kenya’s Sheila Chepkirui, who came in second place in a time of 2:17:49 — finishing more than five minutes after Assefa; while third place went to Tanzania’s Magdalena Shauri with a time of 2:18:41.
Astonishingly, Assefa only ran her first marathon last year — at the inaugural Riyadh marathon in Saudi Arabia, finishing with a time of 2 hours, 34 minutes and 1 second.
She followed this up six months later at last year’s Berlin marathon (widely considered to be the quickest course on the circuit) with a time of 2 hours, 15 minutes and 37 seconds.
After beating the women’s world record on Sunday morning, which was previously held by Kenyan long-distance runner Brigid Kosgei, fans have been talking about Assefa’s running gear, specifically — the recently released Adizero Adios Pro Evo 1s she was wearing — which Adidas said is “enhanced with unique technology that challenges the boundaries of racing”.
The shoes, priced at €500 ($AUD827), are made from a special foam that apparently provides greater energy return for runners, and a special outsole feature for optimum traction at a significantly lower weight.
Before recently, Assefa was known as a star middle-distance runner. She made her international 800 metre debut at the the African Championships in 2014, before competing at the 2016 Olympics in the same event, where she represented Ethiopia.
After an Achilles injury forced her to move to road running in 2018, Assefa was unable to compete during 2020-2021, a period which proved difficult to train in Ethiopia due to the global pandemic, according to her manager, Gianni Demadonna.
Assefa will be a likely competitor (and medal-holder) at next year’s Paris Olympics marathon event.