Tigst Assefa Runs the Third-Fastest Marathon in History in Berlin, Then Limps Home Short of the World Record
Assefa won in a course-record 2:11:04 while on world-record pace for most of the race, Guye Adola took the men's title in 2:02:50, and Ethiopia swept both elite races on Sunday.
Monday, September 28, 2026/2 min read
Tigst Assefa ran the third-fastest marathon ever recorded in Berlin on Sunday, winning in 2:11:04, and she did it while injured. NBC Sports reports that the 29-year-old Ethiopian was on course for a world record, projected at 2:09:44, until the closing miles, when she slowed sharply.
A record chase that unravelled at the end
The world record is Ruth Chepngetich's 2:09:56, set in Chicago in 2024. Assefa held a pace that would have beaten it for most of the race, and NBC reports that her last 2.2 kilometres took 8 minutes 4 seconds, more than 30 seconds a kilometre slower than the rhythm that had carried her through the earlier stages. The 52nd edition of the race, a World Athletics Platinum Label event and one of the six World Marathon Majors, recorded in its results summary that she was seen to limp visibly over the final two kilometres. NBC says she suffered an Achilles tear during the race and had surgery on Monday.
Even so, her time is a new women's course record in Berlin, bettering her own 2:11:53 from 2023, which was a world record when she set it. Assefa now owns both the third and fourth fastest marathons in history. Only Chepngetich's record and Fotyen Tesfay's 2:10:51 from Barcelona earlier this year are quicker.
A distant field behind her
The gap to the rest was enormous. Bedatu Hirpa was second in 2:16:53 and Dera Dida third in 2:16:55, so Assefa won by almost six minutes, and Ethiopian women filled the podium.
Adola takes a second title
The men's race went to Guye Adola in 2:02:50, his second victory in Berlin. Gemechu Dida finished second in 2:03:19, which gave Ethiopia a one-two, and Tanzania's Gabriel Geay was third in 2:03:59. Ethiopia swept both elite races.
The men's field had been thinned before the start. Defending champion Sebastian Sawe pulled out a month earlier with an injury, and the former champion Kenenisa Bekele withdrew only days before the race with an Achilles problem, the same area that ended Assefa's afternoon in pain.
What her time means
A world record that stands at 2:09:56 is no small target, and Assefa's run shows how close the margin is. At 2:11:04 she was within about a minute of it despite finishing on an injured leg, which is why the result reads more like a near miss than a failure. Whether she returns to attack it again depends on the recovery from surgery. The next major on the calendar is the Chicago Marathon on 11 October, where the world record was set two years ago.
Published in The Outspoken Digest
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