Tigist Assefa's world record from 2023 Berlin Marathon officially ratified by World Athletics

Ethiopia's marathon running icon, Tigist Assefa, finally got the green light on her last year's Berlin Marathon world record. It has been officially recognized and confirmed by the World Athletics recently.

Assefa is the only woman distance runner in the history of track who has finished a marathon in two hours and twelve minutes and then two hours and thirteen minutes.

Living up to her personality, the 27-year-old athlete reigened supreme at the BMW Berlin Marathon last year in September, finishing the race in an incredible 2:11:53, and defending her title in a dominant fashion. The record also got added to the top of her previous fastest finishes.

With this, Tigist Assefa also broke the previous world record of 2:14:04 by almost two minutes, which was held by Kenya's marathoner Brigid Kosgei, set in Chicago in October 2019.

Now, almost a year later, the World Athletics has announced the ratification of Assefa's world record. They took it to X (formerly Twitter) and wrote:

"Ratified world record for the women's marathon! Ethiopia's Tigist Assefa time of 2:11:53 at last year's @berlinmarathonE has officially been ratified. "

The Ethiopian's record-breaking run was so pronounced that she had only her compatriot Workenesh Edesa trailing her through the 17-kilometer mark. At the halfway mark, Assefa had achieved a time of 1:06:20, which later set the stage for her to break the world record.

Tigist Assefa believes that she is capable of running a marathon in sub-2:10

2023 BMW Berlin-Marathon

Tigist Assefa has achieved several accolades and smashed numerous records in her brief athletic career. She is a two times major marathon winner, an African U20 championships silver medallist, a Diamond League meeting winner and much more.

The Olympian has already shattered the world, and she still believes that she has that pace with which she can achieve the rare feat of finishing the marathon in a time frame of 2:10 or less.

Shedding light on the same, Assefa told Athletics Weekly in April this year:

"In the future I want to run under two hours and ten minutes. If I can do the training that will allow me to do that then that will be the key factor. I really think I’m capable, God willing, of going under that mark."

Assefa will be representing Ethiopia at the Paris Olympics this year, as her name has been announced for a six-member Ethiopian team that features the likes of Kenenisa Bekele, Amane Beriso, among others.