She Just Broke Marathon Record by 2 Minutes

Tigst Assefa broke the women's world record by more than two minutes Sunday at the Berlin Marathon, per the AP. The Ethiopian, who also won in Berlin a year ago, ran 2 hours, 11 minutes, 53 seconds to break the previous women's record of 2:14:04 set by Brigid Kotsgei at the Chicago Marathon in 2019. CNN notes that the race was only Assefa's third competitive marathon after she made the switch from middle-distance running. The leading 12 runners were all on a record pace through the first mile, though Assefa had broken away by the halfway point.

On the men's side, Eliud Kipchoge ran alone from 20 miles onward but slowed slightly toward the end. His winning time of 2 hours, 2 minutes, 42 seconds was more than a minute and a half off the record he set in Berlin last year. Kipchoge actually broke the two-hour barrier in Vienna in 2019 when he ran 1:59:40, but it was not officially deemed a world record.

(More marathon stories.)