Berlin Marathon Women — Assefa Now No. 3 Ever

BERLIN, GERMANY, September 25 — Long before race day, Berlin Marathon director Mark Milde was quick to note, “I think this year’s race for the ladies will be special.” Just how special? Well, let us count the ways.

Tigist Assefa ran to perhaps the most surprising performance in women’s marathon history with a spectacular 2:15:37 win, good for No. 3 on the all-time list (see box), trailing only Brigid Koskei and Paula Radcliffe’s astounding World Record efforts.

Rosemary Wanjiru finished 2nd in 2:18:00, the fastest ever for a debut 26-miler.

Tigist Abayechew finished 3rd in a best-ever-for-place 2:18:03. The field also proved to be deep as mark-for-place bests were also notched in places 9–18. The lead trio also combined the fastest podium in marathon history, besting London ’21’s total by 2:19.

All of these achievements came as the elite field was more than ready to take advantage of beyond-perfect weather defined by the cool and ever still-air. They started fast and went even faster as the race progressed.

Kenyan Vibian Chepkirui was at the front for most of the first half and led the field through a 16:21 opening 5K (2:17:55 pace), with U.S. hope Keira D’Amato clinging to the back of the 14-woman lead pack.

Speeding up to 16:15 over the second 5K, they crossed the 10K mat in 32:36 (2:17:34 pace) with D’Amato having a rough go of it and falling 7 seconds off the lead. The race’s top seed was coping both with on-course issues and her compromised preparations as she was a last-minute addition to the WC team, where she finished 8th in 2:23:34.

“It wasn’t the day I wanted,” the American admitted “I had some stomach issues, I had a cramp and I had to slow to a shuffle. Once I was able to get past that I was able to turn it back on and catch people and still run 2:21.”