Assefa's steady excellence continues
Her 2:15:50 clocking in London Marathon is women's-only world record, follows runner-up finish in Olympic Games
She no longer holds the world record and she was outkicked for the gold medal in the Olympic Games in Paris last summer. But Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia has been the most consistent elite woman marathon runner in the world for the last two and a half years.
The latest evidence of that came in the London Marathon on Sunday when the 28-year-old Assefa placed first in 2 hours 15 minutes 50 seconds, the fastest-ever time in a women’s only race.
Joyciline Jepkosgei of Kenya finished second in 2:18:44, after running with Assefa for the first 38 kilometers or so of the race, and Olympic champion Siffan Hassan of the Netherlands placed third in 2:19:00, followed by Haven Hailu Desse of Ethiopia in 2:19:17.
Assefa’s time was the 10th-fastest in history and the third fastest of her career, but the nine performances ahead of her winning clocking all came in marathons in which the women’s race was run in conjunction with the men’s contest.
The elite women’s field started 30 minutes ahead of the elite men in the British capital on Sunday, so there was never a chance for Assefa to race any men.
“When I crossed the line I just felt extreme happiness – I was very, very happy to win the race here,” Assefa said through an interpreter in a post-race interview posted on flotrack.org.
Assefa, a member of Ethiopia’s 2016 Olympic team in the 800 meters, turned in a stunning performance in September of 2022 when she won the Berlin Marathon in 2:15:37 after entering the race with a personal best of 2:34:01. And she had followed that by lowering the world record in the following year’s race when her 2:11:53 effort crushed the previous best of 2:14:04 set by Kenyan Brigid Kosgei in Chicago in 2019.
However, she then finished second in the London and Olympic marathons last year after she was outkicked by 2021 Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya in the former race and by Hassan in the latter.
In addition, Ruth Chepngetich of Kenya had crushed Assefa’s world record when she ran a scintillating 2:09:56 in Chicago last October.
Jepchirchir and Chepngetich had been scheduled to run on Sunday, but each of them had pulled out of the race with health issues in the week or two leading up to it.
With that dymamic duo sidelined, Hassan and Assefa were the two clear-cut co-favorites heading into Sunday’s race that was held in relatively warm temperatures by marathon standards.
They, along with Megertu Alemu of Ethiopia and 2021 London champion Jepkosgei, comprised a four-runner lead pack that followed a pair of pacesetters through five kilometers in 15:34 and 10 kilometers in 31:16.
They were nearly two and a half minutes in front of a three-runner chase group when Jepkosgei led them through 15 kilometers in 47:11. But Assefa and Jepkosgei were five seconds ahead of Hassan when they went through 20 kilometers in 1:13:12, and fourth-place Alemu was nearly two minutes behind them and she would eventually drop out.
The leading duo’s lead over 2023 champion Hassan had doubled when they passed the halfway mark in 1:06:40 and it had increased to 26 seconds when they came through 25 kilometers in 1:19:14. It was up to a minute and 10 seconds when they reached 30 kilometers in 1:35:33.
Although the projected finish time was 2:14:23 at that point, the pace was slowing some and Assefa and Jepkosgei came through 35 kilometers in 1:52:12 after running the previous five kilometers in 16:39, the slowest segment of the race.
They continued to run together for the next nine minutes or so, but Assefa took a lead of approximately 10 seconds over Jepkosgei during the next two minutes of the race and she was up by a whopping 56 seconds when she passed the 40-kilometer mark in 2:08:47 after having run the previous five kilometers in 16:35.
While Assefa would cover the final 2.2 kilometers in 7:03 — a pace of 16:01 for 5,000 meters — to better the previous women’s-only record of 2:16:16 set by Jepchirchir in London last year, it took Jepkosgei an agonizing 9:01.
Assefa broke out in a huge smile after crossing the finish line before she slowed to a stop, dropped to her knees and raised her arms wide in celebration before clapping her hands together.
She had appeared to be frustrated after Hassan had pulled away from her during the final 30 seconds of the marathon in the Olympic Games last August, but she had the luxury of finishing nearly three minutes in front of second-place Jepkosgei on Sunday.
“I was really training for all outcomes,” Assefa said. “I felt I could win with a sprint. I could also win with a long run for home.”
There was a gap of more than three minutes from the time Desse finished fourth in a personal best of 2:19:17 to when 41-year-old Kenyan Vivian Cheruiyot placed fifth in 2:22:32.
She was followed by compatriot Stella Chesang of Kenya in 2:22:42, Italian Sofia Yaremchuk in a national record of 2:23:14, and Great Britain’s Eilish McColgan in 2:24:25 in her debut marathon.
Although temperatures were around 65 degrees Fahrenheit (19 Celsius) by the end of the race, Assefa preferred them over the cooler conditions last year.
“Last year I did have some problems with the cold, my hamstring tightened up toward the end of the race,” she said through an interpreter in a cbc.ca post. “This year the weather suited me really well.”
Sunday’s race was the third of seven World Marathon Major events to be held this year.
The next World Marathon Major will be the Sydney Marathon on August 31, followed by the Berlin Marathon on Sept. 21, the Chicago Marathon on Oct. 12, and the New York City Marathon on Nov. 2.
The World Athletics Championships in Tokyo will hold the women’s marathon on Sept. 14.