Tigst Assefa won the BMW Berlin-Marathon for a third time on Sunday, finishing in 2:11:04. That is a new course record and the third-fastest women's marathon ever run, but the world record she came to Berlin to chase got away from her in the final mile.
The Ethiopian was inside world record pace at 40km, on course for about 2:09:44, before a visible limp slowed her badly over the last 2.2km. She missed Ruth Chepngetich's mark of 2:09:56 by 68 seconds. She still took 49 seconds off the 2:11:53 she ran here in 2023, which was the world record at the time. She now holds two of the four fastest times in history.
A new record would have mattered beyond Berlin. Chepngetich's time still stands even though she was later banned for three years after a positive test for a banned diuretic.
Guye Adola won the men's race in 2:02:50, so Ethiopia took both elite titles. The men's field had lost defending champion and world record holder Sabastian Sawe to injury in August, and the race-week focus had moved to the women's record attempt.
The Abbott World Marathon Majors season moves on to Chicago on 11 October.
Source
Original summary by Proventier.