Week in Review: Assefa annihilates world record in women's marathon
Ethiopian's 2:11:53 clocking in Berlin crushes previous best of 2:14:04
2:11:53!!
It’s been three days since Tigist Assefa of Ethiopia ran 2 hours 11 minutes and 53 seconds to obliterate the world record in the women’s marathon in Berlin on Sunday. But I’m still trying to wrap my mind around a time that was faster than the world best of 2:12:11.2 that Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia set in winning the men’s marathon in the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo and not that far removed from the personal best of 2:10:30 for American Frank Shorter, the 1972 Olympic champion and the 1976 silver medalist.
I have seen plenty of comments online attributing Assefa’s time in the Berlin Marathon to the “super shoes” whose carbon-plated soles are aiding the performances of track athletes in races ranging from the 100 meters to the marathon. But the fact that the 26-year-old runner cut 2 minutes and 11 seconds off the previous world record of 2:14:04 that Kenyan Brigid Kosgei set in the Chicago Marathon in 2019 makes me wonder if her performance was a precursor of faster times to come or if it was such an extraordinary performance that it will stand as the world record for 20 or 25 years.
I also wonder if the brilliance of Assefa’s lone marathon of the year will be enough to move her to the forefront of various track and field publications and organizations when it comes time for them to choose their female athlete of the year for 2023.
Faith Kipyegon of Kenya had seemingly been in the driver’s seat for that postseason award after setting world records in the women’s 1,500 meters (3:49.11), mile (4:07.64), and 5,000 (14:05.20) this year, as well as becoming the first woman in history to win the 1,500 and 5,000 in same World Athletics Championships.
However, Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay crushed Kipyegon’s 5,000 record when she ran 14:00.21 in the Prefontaine Classic on Sept. 17. And even when Kipyegon lowered a soft world record of 4:12.33 in the mile by nearly five seconds in the Herculis Diamond League meet in Monaco on July 21, it was not as great an improvement — percentage-wise — as was Assefa’s performance when the Ethiopian averaged 3:07.54 per kilometer and 5:01.81 per mile.
“That I broke the record with such a result was not expected from me,” Assefa said through a translator in a post-race interview. “But in some form, I wanted to break the record, but not in such a category.”
Assefa, who ran a personal best of 1:59.24 in the 800 when she was 17, had run what was then regarded as a shocking 2:15:37 in winning the women’s division of the Berlin Marathon last year after clocking 2:34:01 to finish seventh in her marathon debut in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia six months earlier. But her only race since then had come in the Bahrain Royal Night Half Marathon in Manama, Bahrain in late December when she placed first with a time of 1:07:40.
She said in a pre-race press conference earlier in the week that she hoped to better her course record, but she never mentioned a world record.
Therefore, when the race started in cool and windless conditions at 9:15 a.m. local time (3:15 a.m., Eastern Daylight Time in the U.S.), on Sunday, much of the focus was on whether world-record-holder Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya could break the men’s world record of 2:01:09 that he has set in last year’s race.
With the help of three pacesetters, Kipchoge and 2:08:23 performer Derseh Kindie of Ethiopia came through the halfway mark of the men’s race in 60:22, and it wasn’t until their pace had slowed a few kilometers later that the two announcers calling the race — on a replay on the Flotrack site — really began to focus their attention on Assefa.
By that point, she had already come through five kilometers in 15:59, 10 kilometers in 31:45 (15:46), 15 kilometers in 47:26 (15:41), 20 kilometers in 1:02:52 (15:26), and the halfway mark in 1:06:20.
There were at least nine other women running in a group with Assefa through the 10-kilometer mark. But Assefa and countrywoman Workenesh Edesa had a three second-lead over third-place Sheila Chepkirui of Kenya when they passed through 15 kilometers and Assefa began to pull away from Edesa five minutes later.
The stretch from 20-25 kilometers took Assefa 15:48, her second-slowest of the race, But she proceeded to bury the field during the next 15 kilometers as she ran 15:32, 15:29, and 15:32 over the next three five-kilometer segments.
Based on her 40-kilometer split of 2:05:13, Assefa was projected to finish the race in 2:12:05 or 2:12:06, depending on whether you round your numbers up or down. But she proceeded to run the 41st and 42nd kilometers in 3:03 and 3:02, respectively, while on her way to becoming the first woman in history to break the 2:12 barrier, as well as the first to run under 2:13 and 2:14.
Assefa, who was paced by fellow Ethiopian Girmay Berhanu Gebru for most of the race, overtook three men during the final minutes of the contest before Gebru dropped well behind her during the final 400 meters so she could bathe in the applause of the crowd that lined both sides of the course that passed through the Bradenburg Gate with about 350 meters to go.
Assefa’s historic performance, which was celebrated by World Athletics in the following Instagram post, came in the first race in which eight women ran under 2 hours and 20 minutes.
Chepkirui finished second in 2:17:49 while Magdalena Shauri of Tanzania placed third in 2:18:41 to crush the previous national record of 2:24:59 set by Banuelia Katesigwa in 2002. Her time also obliterated her previous best of 2:33:28 from 2017.
Ethiopians took the next five spots as Zeineba Yimer finished fourth in 2:19:07, followed by Senbere Teferi in fifth in 2:19:21, Dera Dida in sixth in 2:19:24, Edesa in seventh in 2:19:40, and Helen Bekele in eighth in 2:19:44.
Yimer, Teferi, Dida, and Bekele all set personal bests.
“I think such is the result of hard work which I have done for the last year,” Assefa said through the translator when she was asked how she had run such as superb time.
When asked if her performance made her the favorite for the Olympic Games in Paris next August, she said that her selection to the Ethiopian team “lies in the hands of the committee members. But I have set a point now which will not be ignored. So I hope I will participate in the Olympic Games in Paris.”
Interesting feeling: Statistically speaking, Eliud Kipchoge’s dominance of the all-time performance list in the men’s marathon increased on Sunday when he ran 2:02:42 to win an unprecedented fifth title in the Berlin Marathon.
The victory was his 16th in 19 marathons and his time was the fifth fastest of his career and the eighth fastest in history. And yet, his performance left me with the feeling that his days atop the men’s marathon are waning.
I first began to feel that way in April when the 38-year-old Kipchoge finished a well-beaten sixth in the Boston Marathon on the 17th of the month and 23-year-old countryman Kelvin Kiptum ran 2:01:25 — the second-fastest time in history — in winning the London Marathon six days later.
Kipchoge finished 31 seconds in front of second-place Vincent Kipkemboi of Kenya in Berlin. But Kipkemboi (2:03:13) and third-place Tadese Takele of Ethiopia (2:03:24) made up 47 and 35 seconds, respectively, on the two-time defending Olympic champion after the 30-kilometer mark while making their marathon debuts.
Kipchoge had come through 10 kilometers in 28:27, 20 kilometers in 57:13, the halfway mark in 60:20, and 30 kilometers in 1:26:25 while being shadowed by 2:08:23 performer Derseh Kindie of Ethiopia. But after Kindie abruptly dropped out of the race just after 31 kilometers and the last of three pacesetters pulled off the course shortly after that, Kipchoge’s pace lagged.
He ran the five-kilometer segment from 30 to 35 kilometers in 14:45 and the segment from 35 to 40 kilometers in 14:56, his two slowest 5K splits of the race.
“I was expecting to do the same,” Kipchoge said when asked if he was shooting to lower the world record he had set in Berlin last year. “But it did not come as I expected. That’s how sport is.”
Depth galore: Although Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya came up short in his bid to lower his own world record in the men’s marathon in Berlin on Sunday, the race was exceptionally deep as a record nine runners ran under 2 hours and 5 minutes and an unprecedented 15 broke 2:06.
The previous high for sub-2:05 clockings in one race had been seven, set in the Dubai Marathon in the United Arab Emirates in 2018, and the most sub-2:06 efforts had been 11, registered in the Valencia Marathon in Spain in 2020.
The eighth- through 15th-place finishers also posted the fastest times ever for their respective positions.
In addition to Kipchoge’s winning time of 2:02:42, which was the eighth-fastest time in history, Kenyan Vincent Kipkemboi placed second in 2:03:13 to move into a tie for 11th on the all-time performer list and Ethiopian Tadese Takele finished third in 2:03:24 to move to 16th.
The performances of Kipkemboi and Takele were doubly impressive as they came in the first marathons of their careers.
Ronald Korir of Kenya placed fourth in 2:04:22, with Ethiopians Haftu Teklu and Andualem Shiferaw running personal bests of 2:04:42 and 2:04:44 to finish fifth and sixth.
Amos Kipruto of Kenya, last year’s London Marathon champion, placed seventh in 2:04:49, followed by the personal bests of 2:04:56 and 2:04:58 for Philemon Kiplimo of Kenya and Amanal Petros of Germany.
Petros’ time lowered his previous national record of 2:06:27 that he set while finishing 11th in the Valencia Marathon in 2021.
Two for one: Tadesse Abraham of Switzerland set a national record, as well as a Masters (age 40 and over) world record, when he ran 2:05:10 to finish 11th in the men’s division of the Berlin Marathon on Sunday.
The 41-year-old Abraham lowered his previous national record of 2:06:38 that he had set in winning the Zurich Marathon in April of last year and bettered the previous Masters world record of 2:05:53 that then 40-year-old Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia had set in placing fifth in the London Marathon last October.
Abraham, who finished seventh in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and 11th in the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar, ran the first half of the race in 1:02:13 before covering the second half in 1:02:57.
After running his first two 10-kilometer segments of the race in 29:28 and 29:34, he clocked 29:23 for his third. But he slowed to 30:13 for his fourth segment before regrouping over the final 2.2 kilometers of the race.
His solid finishing stretch was evident in the fact that he was 24 seconds out of 10th place when he came through 40 kilometers in 1:58:38, but he finished five seconds behind 10th-place Bonface Kimutai of Kenya.
My apologies: I want to apologize to readers of Track & Field Informed with Johnny O for not posting a report on the Berlin Marathon on Sunday.
I planned to do so, but what I believe to have been a faulty internet connection on my end prevented me from watching more than 10-15 seconds of the live stream at a time before the video would freeze for 10 to 20 seconds or sometimes longer.
I tried to work around that issue for the first hour or so of the race before I gave up in frustration and went back to bed. I then watched a full, uninterrupted replay of the race on Monday morning.
The internet connection at our home is now working properly and I intend to file a report about the Chicago Marathon when that race is held on October 8.
Big throw powers victory: A personal best in the javelin keyed Emma Oosterwegel’s win in the heptathlon in the Decastar multi-event meet in Talence, France last weekend
The 25-year-old Dutchwoman had ended the first day with a third-place total of 3,645 points after running 13.46 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles, clearing 1.75 (5-8¾) in the high jump, putting the shot 13.80 (45-3½), and clocking 24.48 in the 200.
She remained in third place after leaping 6.18 (20-3½) in the long jump to start the day on Sunday, but her 56.66 (185-11) throw in the javelin was nearly 10 meters farther than anyone else in the competition and gave her an 83-point lead over second-place Annik Kalin of Switzerland heading into the 800, the final event of the competition.
Her time of 2:13.62 in that event was the fifth-best of the meet and gave her a 6,495-point total that left her 105 points ahead of runner-up Kalin, who had 6,390. Taliyah Brooks of the U.S. finished third with 6,181 points.
Oosterwegel’s total was the second-best of her career as she had scored 6,590 points in winning the bronze medal in the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021 and it also exceeded the qualifying standard of 6,480 points for the Olympic Games in Paris next summer.
In addition, it was her second consecutive first-place finish in the Decastar meet as she and Ivona Dadic of Austria had shared the title last year with identical scores of 6,233 points.
Oosterwegel was very pleased with her performance as an Instagram post read as follows:
Olympic standard & 1st place in Talence! 🥹
I loved ending this track season @decastar_officiel! Thanks to everyone who made it a really fun and special weekend 💛
Now it's time for some rest.
See yah later mates 🫡 #emmaout
Finishing strong: Makenson Gletty of France capped the best season of his career with a first-place finish in the decathlon in the Decastar multi-event meet in Talence, France last weekend.
The 24-year-old Gletty took the lead after the shot put — the third of the decathlon’s 10 events — on his way to a career best of 8,443 points. Manuel Eitel of Germany finished second with 8,193 points, followed by defending champion and World Championship bronze medalist Lindon Victor of Grenada with 7,980.
It was the fifth consecutive decathlon during the last two seasons in which Gletty has raised his personal best.
He began the year with a best of 8,141 points before totaling 8,211 to finish eighth in the Hypomeeting in Gotzis, Austria in May and 8,279 to win the French championships in July.
His point total from that meet was not high enough to qualify him for the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary last month so he came to Talence looking to top his best.
Although his 8,443-point total fell just short of the qualifying standard of 8,460 points for the Olympic Games in Paris next summer, it should give him plenty of confidence heading into the off-season.
Gletty began the meet by posting the second-fastest time in the 100 meters at 10.78 seconds before leaping 7.34 (24-1) in the long jump. That left him in third place with 1,806 points, but he took over the overall lead when he put the shot 16.46 (54-0) and never trailed again.
His 1.96 (6-5) clearance in the high jump gave him a 48-point lead over second-place Eitel and a 48.48 clocking in the 400 gave him a first-place score of 4,344 points and a 76-point advantage over Eitel at the end of the first day.
He increased his advantage to 141 points when he ran 14.01 to Eitel’s 14.52 in the 110-meter high hurdles to start the second day. He gave up 30 points of his lead when he threw the discus 41.67 (136-8), but he increased his advantage to a commanding 233 points when he cleared 5.07 (16-7½) in the pole vault to Eitel’s 4.67 (15-3¾).
He then threw the javelin 59.77 (196-1) before concluding the meet with a time of 4:27.46 in the 1,500.
Victor had raised his national record to 8,756 points in finishing third in Budapest, but he had a very sub-par meet in Talence as his marks in all 10 events were worse — some by substantial margins — than his performances in the World Championships.
Short course nullifies ratification: Agnes Jebet Ngetich’s apparent world record in the women’s-only 10K road race will not be ratified after a re-measurement of the course on which it was run showed that the layout was 25 meters short of 10 kilometers.
The 22-year-old Kenyan had run 29:24 to win the Trunsylvania International 10K race in Brasov, Romania on Sept. 10 to apparently crush the fastest time (30:01) that had ever been run in women’s-only race. She was also credited with a 14:25 clocking for the first 5K of that race, which lowered the previous best of 14:29 for a women’s-only event.
However, a re-measurement of the course, which is standard protocol anytime a road record is set, showed that the purported 10-kilometer course was 9,975 meters in length. Although Ngetich would have no doubt run substantially faster than the 10K record had the course been 25 meters longer, the rules state that a record cannot be ratified if it was run on a course that is short of the required distance.
Thus, the world record for the women’s-only 5K road race remains the 14:29 run by Senbere Teferi of Ethiopia and the 10K best stands at 30:01 set by the late Anges Jebet Tirop of Kenya.
Both records were set on the same day in the same meet in Herzogenaurach, Germany in 2021.
Save the dates: The 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials will be held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon from June 21-30 of next year.
USA Track & Field made that announcement online last Thursday.
This will mark the fifth consecutive time — and the eighth overall — that the University of Oregon will host the Trials, the meet that determines the U.S. team that competes in the Olympic Games later in the summer.
Unlike the World Athletics Championships, defending Olympic champions are not given an automatic bye into the Olympic Games. Berths have to be earned via a country’s selection process.
In most cases, athletes who place among the top three finishers in their respective event in the Olympic Trials next year will be selected to the U.S. team that will compete in the track and field portion of the Olympic Games in Paris from August 1-11.
However, there will probably be a few cases when someone who finishes amongst the top three finishers in an event at the Trials has not met the qualifying standard for the Olympics and will have to advance to the Games based on their place on a event rankings list kept by World Athletics.
If they are unable to advance via their ranking, they could be replaced by an athlete who finished lower than them at the Trials, but has met the qualifying standard for the Olympics.
The USATF announcement did not include an event schedule for the Trials and the release stated that “further details will be shared closer to the event.”
In memory: Ruth Fuchs, the 1972 and ’76 Olympic champion in the women’s javelin for East Germany, died on Sept. 20 of undisclosed causes at the University Hospital of Jena in Germany. She was 76.
Fuchs, who admitted in 1994 that she used steroids as part of East Germany’s state doping program, competed during a time in which competitors threw what is often referred to as the old-style javelin. A modified implement, in which the center of gravity was moved forward to shorten the distance of throws, has been in use since April 1, 1999.
From 1972-80, Fuchs set six world records. In addition, she was the first woman to throw more than 65 meters (213-3), as well as the first to top the 66-, 67-, 68- and 69-meter (226-4) barriers. She set her last world record of 69.96 (229-6) in April of 1980, but placed a disappointing eighth in the Olympic Games that were held in Moscow in July of that year.
Track & Field News selected Fuchs as its Women’s Athlete of the Decade for the 1970s, as she had been the publication’s top-ranked javelin thrower from 1972-’79 after being ranked second for the 1970 and ’71 seasons.
Fuchs was a member of East Germany’s last parliament in 1990 before serving as a parliamentarian in the reunified Germany’s Bundestag until 2002. She began as a member of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), which later became the Left Party. She also served as a member of parliament for the state of Thuringia from 2004-09.
Although Fuchs admitted to using steroids, an obituary about her on the dw.com site said that in her view, the only difference between doping in the East and West was that it had been state-organized in the East, whereas it was a free-for-all in the West.