Ethiopian athlete Tigist Assefa dominated at the Berlin Marathon on Sunday, smashing the women’s marathon world record with 2:11:53. She shaved 2 minutes and 11 seconds off Brigid Kosgei’s previous record, which many thought impossible.
Assefa began to identify herself as a threat to the other racers when she pulled away between eight and 10 miles. At the halfway point, it looked as though she might break Kosgei’s world record by about a minute – but her performance in the second half of the race was even more impressive and she blew the record out of the water.
Assefa only starting racing the marathon distance last year and, after winning the Berlin Marathon with 2:15:37 in 2022, she pulled out of the London Marathon earlier this year due to tendonitis. It was clear she was a strong marathon runner, but Sunday’s record-breaking win still shocked fans.
But it wasn’t just her history-making finish time that had people talking: Assefa sported the new Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 1s, a ‘unique’ racing shoe that is set to be released on Tuesday. Currently listed as a prototype on the Adidas website, the shoe is ‘enhanced with unique technology that challenges the boundaries of racing’, according to creators. It features a liquid rubber outsole, a…
