Tigist Assefa targets breakthrough women’s marathon world record time

Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa has set her sights on further lowering her women’s marathon world record to under two hours 10 minutes – but admits her only goal in Sunday’s London marathon is to win.

Achieving that time sounds like a staggering ambition but the 27-year-old is clearly confident after running 2:11:53 in Berlin last September – a time that obliterated the previous mark of 2:14:04 set by Brigid Kosgei in 2019.

“Having broken the world record in Berlin, it has given me a lot of encouragement and confidence,” she said. “I feel like I can go on to achieve greater things. I want to stay in the sport for a long time and I do want to improve my world record. So in the future I want to run under two hours and 10 minutes.”

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But when asked whether she was chasing a fast time in London, she was more circumspect. “My goal is to win,” she replied. The sense is that Assefa will not go at full throttle for Sunday’s race, given that she also has the Olympic marathon in Paris in under four months’ time, she is still the overwhelming favourite.

However she will face a stellar field which includes Ruth Chepngetich, the fourth-fastest woman of all time with a best of 2:14:18, Peres Jepchirchir, the reigning Olympic champion, and Yalemzerf Yehualaw, the 2022 champion in London.

Assefa told the Guardian that she ran between 110 and 124 miles a week and also trained four times a week in the gym. “I think my secret is found in my approach to training and the hard work I do,” she said.

She also confirmed that would be wearing Adidas’s Adizero Adios Pro Evo 1 super shoe, in which she broke her world record in Berlin, on Sunday.

The shoe, which is 40% lighter than previous models, was seen as another leap forward in the technology war. However it has sparked debate given it costs £450 and only lasts one race.

“I really like the shoes,” she said. “What’s really special is how light they are. And that’s where I think I get the extra advantage.”