Ethiopian Tigst Assefa shattered the ladies’s marathon world report, clocking 2 hours, 11 minutes, 53 seconds to repeat as Berlin Marathon champion on Sunday.

Assefa took greater than two minutes off Kenyan Brigid Kosgei’s world report of two:14:04 from the 2019 Chicago Marathon. She received by almost six minutes over Kenyan Sheila Chepkirui.

“That I broke the record with such a result was not expected for me, but in some form I wanted to break the record,” Assefa mentioned via a translator.

Assefa got here from nowhere to win final yr’s Berlin Marathon in 2:15:37, then the third-fastest girls’s time in historical past. Her lone marathon time earlier than that was 2:34:01 (in a race that she ran whereas injured). Before that, she ran the 800m and was eradicated within the heats on the 2016 Rio Olympics.

BERLIN MARATHON: Results

This was Assefa’s third profession marathon. She scratched earlier than April’s London Marathon attributable to tendonitis, based on race organizers.

Berlin is named the world’s quickest main marathon for its pancake-flat roads and often optimum climate.

Also Sunday, Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge received his fifth Berlin title in 2:02:42, the fifth-fastest males’s time in historical past.

Kipchoge, who final yr in Berlin lowered his world report by 30 seconds to 2:01:09, rebounded Sunday from a sixth-place end in his earlier marathon in Boston on April 17.

He flirted with world report tempo — 1:00:22 on the midway mark — earlier than his tempo slowed. He ran the ultimate six miles alone.

“I was expecting to do the same [as in 2022], but it did not come as I expected, but that’s how sport is,” mentioned Kipchoge, who prevailed by 91 seconds. “At the end of it, a little bit of hiccups, but it’s normal in the race.”

The 38-year-old additionally solidified his probabilities of being named to Kenya’s three-man group for the 2024 Paris Olympics, the place he might develop into the primary individual to win three Olympic marathons.

His Olympic spot had been in some doubt after he was the fourth Kenyan in Boston, and, six days later, one other Kenyan, Kelvin Kiptum, received London within the second-best time in historical past.

Kenyan officers haven’t introduced whether or not they’ll identify the Olympic group earlier than or after the spring marathon season.

The fall main marathon season continues in Chicago on Oct. 8, that includes many contenders for the Feb. 3 U.S. Olympic Trials: Galen Rupp and Conner Mantz for the boys and Emily Sisson, Emma Bates, Aliphine Tuliamuk, Molly Seidel and Des Linden for the ladies.