Berlin Marathon 2026: Tigst Assefa barely misses women's world record after sustaining injury late in race

Ethiopia's Tigst Assefa finished just short of the world record in the women's marathon after she began to limp in the final mile of the Berlin Marathon on Sunday, still winning in a course-record time of 2 hours, 11 minutes and 4 seconds.

The time was a personal best for Assefa but just off the WR time of 2:09:56 set by Kenya's Ruth Chepngetich at the 2024 Chicago Marathon. Assefa, 29, was under that pace for much of Sunday's race until she began limping. After passing the 35-kilometer mark in 1:47:32, Assefa was on pace to finish in 2:09:38, 18 seconds faster than Chepngetich's record time.

Assefa still finished with the third-fastest time ever in the women's marathon, trailing only Chepngetich and Ethiopian Fotyen Tesfay's 2:10:51. Assefa ran a 2:11:53 in 2023 in Berlin — then a world record and now the fourth-fastest time ever — and said she was "excited to once again try to break the world record" prior to this year's race.

Just five months earlier, Assefa broke her own record for a women's-only marathon by winning the London Marathon in a time of 2:15:41.

Chepngetich is serving a three-year suspension for doping violations after she tested positive for a banned diuretic in March 2025.

Assefa made it an Ethiopian sweep in Berlin after Guye Adola won the men's race in 2:02:51. He previously won Berlin in 2021. Ethiopia's Gemechu Dirib was second with Tanzania's Gabriel Geay in third.

Kenya's Sabastian Sawe, who became the first person to run a sub-two-hour marathon when he broke the men's WR in London earlier this year, did not run in Berlin on Sunday because of an injury.

Berlin is a flat course that runners target for fast times. Overcast skies also made for ripe conditions for an attempt at the world record after race organizers moved up the start time to avoid the hot temperatures at last year's marathon.