Tigst Assefa ran as if the world record were already in her hands. Until the fortieth kilometre, the Ethiopian was ahead of Ruth Chepngetich's pace and seemed about to reclaim the summit she had lost two years earlier. But in the final two kilometres her body gave out: cramps, a limp, visible pain — and the 68 seconds separating her from the greatest achievement slipped away.
The time of 2:11:04 became a new course record in Berlin and the third-fastest result in the history of the women's marathon. Assefa improved her own Berlin mark of 2023 by 49 seconds, when her 2:11:53 was considered a world record. Now, however, she finished behind Chepngetich and Fotyen Tesfay, but ahead of the rest of the planet. Ethiopian runners took the first five places, and Gaye Adola won the men's race.
The paradox is that it was precisely the aggressive surge between the 25th and 35th kilometres — two segments of 15:15 and 15:17 — that cost her the record. Assefa, as always, read her body better than anyone else, but even her intuition could not save her from burning too much energy. Behind this lies not merely tactics, but a deep Ethiopian marathon school, where dominance is built on collective preparation and a readiness to risk everything for victory.
Chepngetich's record still hangs over the sport like a shadow: the Kenyan received a three-year suspension for doping, but her time of 2:09:56 has not been annulled. Assefa, the silver medallist at the Paris Olympics and the winner of London 2026, is now once again closest of all to the summit, but the price of such closeness is an Achilles injury and tears at the finish.
Imagine a racer who leads the entire lap, and on the final turn the engine explodes from overheating. So it is here: a five-minute advantage at the 35th kilometre turned into a desperate struggle just to finish. This is not merely a failure — it is a reminder that the marathon punishes those who come too close to the limit.
For Assefa, this result is her fifth major victorious performance and her third victory in Berlin. She has surpassed even Haile Gebrselassie among Ethiopians in the number of major victories. But the main question now is not the numbers, but whether she can recover and try again while age and body allow.
