Sunday 24th September was bright, sunny, and the perfect climate for marathoning, yet no one could
quite believe it when Tigist Assefa stormed over the Berlin marathon finish line in two hours, eleven
minutes and fifty-three seconds. The determined Ethiopian flew through the German capital in
Adidas’ latest £400 super shoes as she chased down the men’s winner, Eliud Kipchoge. Widely
considered to be the greatest marathon runner ever, Kipchoge won this year’s Berlin Marathon for
the fifth time in two hours, two minutes and forty-two seconds.
First run in 1974, Berlin has seen some of the fastest times ever, undoubtedly because it is one of
the flattest courses globally with a net elevation loss of 19 feet. Assefa won the women’s marathon
last year with a course record of two hours, fifteen minutes, and thirty-seven seconds; clearly the
race is also conducive to consistent results. Guided by renowned Ethiopian coach Gemedu Dedefo,
the 26 year old’s success in marathon running has only become evident in the past year when she
ran a Berlin course record of two hours, fifteen minutes, and thirty-seven seconds; unbelievably, she
was formerly an 800m specialist and competed in the event for Ethiopia at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
The middle-distance-turned-marathon runner collaborated with Adidas for this year’s race, rocking
the eye-wateringly expensive Adizero Adios Pro Evo 1s. At £400 a pop (and it is a pop, for they are
said to lose their record-breaking integrity after just a few hours of use) this ground-breaking,
“single-use” shoe has further raised the bar for what is required to win.
Space age shoes aside, Assefa’s achievement cannot be taken away from her and should be
celebrated. At elite level marathon running, it is hard enough to shave a few seconds off records, let
alone give them a full back-and-sides. Yet demolish the record Assefa did, by two minutes and
eleven seconds. Brigid Kosgei held the women’s marathon record previously when she ran two
hours, fourteen minutes and four seconds in the 2019 Chicago Marathon.
Such a rapid rise for Assefa and the subsequent gigantic improvement in the record has predictably
unearthed sceptical ‘back-seat runners’ on social media, who claim the Ethiopian is taking
performance-enhancing drugs. Although the drugs testing process is more stringent than ever,
personally I can only hope that she has achieved this result purely through training hard. It will soon
come out if there was any foul play but in the meantime, we must put our faith in the World
Marathon Majors and World Athletics doping tests. Testing positive for a banned substance would
jeopardise the validity of future record-breaking performances and could potentially contribute to
misogynistic, negative assumptions about female marathon runners.
Eliud Kipchoge set the official men’s world marathon record last year in Berlin – 2:01:09 – much to
the delight of the German crowds. He repeated his success for a fifth time on the course this year,
having already won the race in 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2022. Despite the Kenyan’s victory becoming
somewhat overshadowed by Assefa’s performance – understandably – Kipchoge has cemented his
reputation as the G.O.A.T. of marathon running. Surpassing Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie’s four Berlin
marathon wins ensures the 38 year old will be forever carved into the history books.
A truly memorable day out for all involved, the Berlin marathon once again delivered its customary
thrills, whilst sparking a plethora of debates over the legitimacy of super shoes and the meteoric rise
of Tigist Assefa. The future of marathon running has just got a whole lot more unpredictable.
“Berlin Marathon Medal” by Nick J Webb is licensed under CC BY 2.0.