Neue Rheinische Zeitung - Assefa seeks 'better than my best' at Berlin marathon

Assefa's 2:11:53 from 2023 remains the best mark in Berlin and is the third fastest time ever run by a woman.

Assefa's time of 2:15:41 in London in April is the world record in a women-only race, but it is two minutes behind the world mark of 2:09:56 set by Ruth Chepngetich in Chicago in 2024. That result is now clouded by the Kenyan's three-year doping ban handed down in 2025

The 29-year-old Assefa has her sights set on improving her personal best.

"I don't know what will happen on Sunday. But I've prepared very well. What I'll strive for is to improve on my best performance and not to go backwards," Assefa told reporters on Thursday.

"I'm not sure what will happen. But I'm ready to be better than my best-ever performance."

Last year's winner Rosemary Wanjiru of Kenya, who has a personal best of 2:16:28 is Assefa's main rivalon Sunday, but the true battle could be with herself.

The withdrawal of men's world record holder Sabastian Sawe in August means all eyes will be on Assefa.

The 31-year-old Sawe, who won in Berlin in 2025, became the first man to break the mythical two-hour mark and shattered the marathon world record in London in April.

Assefa won on her Berlin debut in 2022, just her second ever marathon, before breaking the world record in the German capital a year later.

Wearing a sponsor-branded jacket emblazoned with her women's only world record time in inch-high letters, Assefa said she was thrilled to be back.

"I can't put into words how much of a pleasure it is to be here again for a third time. I started with success in Berlin and I hope to continue with success here."

A medalist over 800 metres at the African Junior Championships, Assefa was the first woman to break the two-minute mark over the distance but switched to road racing after an Achilles tendon injury prevented her from training in spikes.

After two years off from running during the pandemic, Assefa finished seventh in her first marathon in Valencia in 2022.

Later that year, she shaved almost 20 minutes off her Valencia mark at the Berlin marathon, where she ran 2:15:37 -- the third fastest time in history.

A year later, Assefa set the record in Berlin, running 2:11:53, but lost it in October 2024 to Chepngetich.

- Berlin 'good for runners' -

Held in cool conditions in autumn and with fewer turns or inclines than the other major marathons, Berlin is considered the fastest of the major marathon courses.

The world record has been broken 13 times in Berlin, more often than anywhere else.

Eight of the last 10 men's marathon world records have been set in the German capital, although Sawe's current men's record of 1:59:30 was set in London in April.

"The course is very good for runners," Assefa said Thursday.

"There's no big inclines. When I ran here the last time the weather was good. And above all, there were a lot of spectators who helped carried me across the finish line."

K.Peters--NRZ