Assefa threatens world record as Adola completes Ethiopian double in Berlin
Tigst Assefa chased history until the final kilometres.
Guye Adola finished the Ethiopian takeover.
Assefa won the women’s BMW Berlin Marathon in 2:11:04 on Sunday after threatening the world record deep into the race, while Adola produced a personal-best 2:02:50 to reclaim the men’s title.
The performances gave Ethiopia both elite crowns in Berlin — but Assefa’s late-race drama turned what had looked like a world-record assault into a test simply to reach the Brandenburg Gate.
Her 2:11:04 was still the third-fastest women’s marathon ever recorded and a Berlin course record.
Assefa attacks history
Assefa did not run Berlin conservatively.
She attacked.
The Ethiopian passed 5km in 15:30 and reached 10km in 30:48, already separating herself from the field as the world record moved into view.
The target was 2:09:56.
And with only a few kilometres remaining, it was still alive.
World Athletics reported that Assefa remained on world-record pace at 40km before an apparent physical problem disrupted her rhythm during the closing stages. Berlin Marathon organisers said she suffered a sudden problem with her right leg and was forced to limp towards the finish.
The record disappeared.
The victory did not.
Assefa reached the line in 2:11:04, comfortably clear of Bedatu Hirpa, who finished second in 2:16:53.
Dera Dida completed an Ethiopian sweep of the women’s podium in 2:16:55.
World record escapes, but Assefa still delivers history
The final kilometres changed the scale of Assefa’s performance, not its significance.
Her winning time was the third-fastest women’s marathon in history, according to World Athletics, despite the physical trouble that derailed her record attempt.
Berlin organisers also confirmed that 2:11:04 established a new course record.
It was a brutal ending to a race that had spent most of the morning threatening something even bigger.
Assefa had gone for the world record rather than simply protecting the win.
She paid for that aggression late.
She still won by almost six minutes.
Adola comes back for Berlin crown
Then came Guye Adola.
Five years after winning Berlin in 2021, the Ethiopian returned to the top of the men’s race with the fastest marathon of his career.
Adola crossed the line in 2:02:50, improving by almost a minute on the personal best he had established on his marathon debut in Berlin in 2017.
It was also his second major marathon victory of 2026 after winning Rotterdam in April in 2:03:54.
Gemechu Dida finished second in 2:03:19, while Tanzania’s Gabriel Geay took third in 2:03:59.
That gave Ethiopia the first two places in the men’s race after sweeping all three podium positions in the women’s contest.
Berlin belongs to Ethiopia
The numbers were emphatic.
Women: Assefa, Hirpa, Dida.
Men: Adola, Dida, Geay.
Four of the six elite podium places belonged to Ethiopia, including both victories.
But the two wins carried different pressures.
Adola delivered control and a personal best, returning to a course where he had already tasted victory.
Assefa went after the outer edge of marathon history and came frighteningly close before her body interrupted the chase.
One reclaimed Berlin.
The other nearly rewrote the world record.
Together, they made the Brandenburg Gate an Ethiopian finish line.
