There are not 450 men in the world who could run a marathon faster this year than Tigst Assefa, the Ethiopian athlete, this Sunday, a quiet day in Berlin’s fresh autumn, with the leaves of the linden trees above the athlete yellow, broke the marathon world record with a mark of two hours, 11 minutes and 53 seconds (at the finish he appeared to be a second less, but the time was later revised). An improvement of more than two minutes (two minutes and 11 seconds) on the previous record held by Kenyan Brigid Kosgei since the 2019 Chicago Marathon (two hours, 14 minutes and four seconds) at the beginning of this new era characterized by the revolutionary sneakers with carbon plate and magical foams. Assefa, 29 years old, managed to become the first woman to walk under two hours and 14 minutes, two hours and 13 minutes and two hours and 12 minutes in one fell swoop.
Assefa’s performance surprised the world. Last year he also achieved a remarkable record (two hours, 15 minutes and 37 seconds) in Berlin, where he already had two wins in a row, the third best of all time at the time, but no one could have imagined something like that for 12 months later. The Ethiopian, who was faster than the great Abebe Bikila when he broke the world record at the Tokyo Games 59 years ago (with two hours, 12 minutes and 11 seconds), flew with the new Adidas model until he reached the finish line a time that would not be expected left him very close to the men’s Olympic marathon in Tokyo 2020 and played utopias.
Only five Spanish athletes were faster than Assefa this year, managing to run 42.195 kilometers at a speed of 3.07 minutes per kilometer, a step that takes the women’s marathon to another dimension. His speed made for a very impressive sight as he managed to overtake American Jared Ward, an athlete who finished sixth in the 2016 Rio Olympic Marathon, during the race.
๐ฅ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฬ๐ ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ ๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐ ๐ฟ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ฬ ๐พ๐ ๐๐ฟ ๐ฟ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ฟ๐ ๐ผ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐พ๐๐ ๐ฎ :๐ญ๐ญ:
๐ What we just saw is HISTORY of athletics. #BerlinMarathon pic.twitter.com/f0JAm3qnPQ
โ Teledeporte (@teledeporte) September 24, 2023
The story of Assefa has two major deserts. This woman grew up as a middle-distance runner and developed into a marathon runner. There is only one other woman in the world, Sifan Hassan, who is able to run under two minutes in the 800 meter race and under two hours and 19 minutes in the marathon. He was not a star on the track, although he won a bronze medal in the African Junior Championships and reached the Rio Games with Ethiopia unsuccessfully in the two rounds of the track.
Until an Achilles tendon injury kept her away from synthetic clothing. His first big breakthrough came. One of the greatest representatives of the sports world, the Italian Gianni Demadonna, began his career in asphalt events. His coach is Gemedu Dedefo, who leads a group that includes Tamirat Tola, world marathon champion in Eugene, 2022, in Addis Ababa, over 2,000 meters.
As a distance runner, it took him a while to stand out. His beginnings on the track in 2018 were discreet, with grades in 10K and half marathons lower than the pace times he posted in the race this Sunday. Four years ago, Assefa ran the Valencia half marathon in one hour, eight minutes and 24 seconds, and in Berlin he crossed the equator in one hour, six minutes and 20 seconds. But then came the pandemic and a second break: another two years of almost no running.
After winter came spring. One day, Dedefo, surprised by his athlete’s training performance, called Demadonna in alarm. โGianni, I’ve never seen a woman run like that.โ It was the first warning that this middle-distance runner could be a great marathon runner. On his debut over the distance, at the Riyadh Marathon in Saudi Arabia, he was run over. The athlete needed money and jumped at the first check she was offered. The result was a vulgar mark: two hours, 34 minutes and one second. Six months later, eight kilos lighter, a new Assefa was presented to the world with a great triumph in Berlin and the third-best record in history at the time.
Kipchoge pauses
In 2023 I wanted to take another leap. His goal was to run in London in the spring, but tendonitis discouraged him from doing so and he reserved the fall in Berlin, where all the spotlights were on the great Eliud Kipchoge, the athlete who in a few days would become the Princess of will win The Asturias Prize in Oviedo will be gone. They turned to Assefa. The athlete was able to run the second half of the race (she completed it in one hour, five minutes and 33 seconds) to such an extent faster than the first half (which she completed in one hour, six minutes and 20 seconds). That it was shocking. The feeling of being free was having a hard time keeping up. Quite the opposite of this expressionless Ethiopian woman who, despite running, showed no pain or suffering, as only one other woman in history has done: on this sunny morning in Valencia in 2021, where Letesenbet Gidey, also Ethiopian – the New York Marathon will be run on November 5th โ won the half marathon with an amazing time (one hour, two minutes and 52 seconds).
Kipchoge challenged him for the leadership role for almost 30 kilometers. The first half of the race suggested a mark under his world record (at one hour, one minute and nine seconds) and just over two hours. However, he faltered in the second half and secured his fifth win in Berlin with his third-best time on the course (two hours, two hours) – no one has more than him in the German capital, surpassing Ethiopia’s Haile Gebrselassie’s four minutes and 42 seconds). This is expected to be his final appearance before he attempts to become the first man to win three Olympic marathon titles in Paris.
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