Ethiopians dominate Berlin: Assefa runs 2:11:04 with late Achilles injury; Adola gets a first-time win in 2:02:50

Tigst Assefa was on her way to another piece of history in Berlin. Then, with roughly two kilometres remaining, her right Achilles apparently decided it had seen enough.

The Ethiopian won the BMW Berlin Marathon in 2:11:04 on Sunday, breaking the course record but falling well short of the world record she had been chasing for most of the race, which is 2:09:56, set by Kenyan Ruth Chepngetich at Chicago in 2024.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by BMW BERLIN-MARATHON (@berlinmarathon)

Assefa passed 10 kms in 30:48, halfway in 1:04:57, and 30 kms in 1:32:19. With five kilometres remaining, the projected finish was 2:09:36, comfortably inside Chepngetich’s 2:09:56.

Then the race changed.

Around 40 kms, Assefa’s stride became uneven. She soon began limping noticeably, and the final two kms became an exercise in getting to the Brandenburg Gate rather than chasing another world record.

Even so, 2:11:04 is the third-fastest marathon ever recorded by a woman and a course record in Berlin.

Assefa’s victory was her third in Berlin, following wins in 2022 and 2023. She also set the course record on each occasion, making her the first athlete in the race’s history to accomplish the feat three times.

She was unable to celebrate for long. Assefa was taken to hospital following the race for assessment and treatment of the Achilles injury and later travelled to Munich for further treatment.

Behind her, compatriots Bedatu Hirpa and Dera Dida finished second and third in 2:16:53 and 2:16:55.

A Berlin breakthrough for Langerwisch

With Esther Pfeiffer withdrawing after approximately 14 kilometres and Laura Hottenrott cancelling her start, the German women’s race suddenly became considerably less predictable.

Anna Langerwisch, a 25-year-old Berlin runner competing for the Marathon Team Berlin, took advantage of the opportunity.

She finished 16th overall in 2:27:31 — her first time under 2:30 — to become the fastest German woman in the race and the third-fastest German this year.

“I am overwhelmed, because I never expected I could be the fastest German,” Langerwisch said.

Pfeiffer had arrived with considerably larger ambitions. She was attempting to break Irina Mikitenko’s 18-year-old German record of 2:19:19, set in Berlin in 2008.

Running with her husband, Hendrik Pfeiffer, she went through the opening kilometres at sub-2:20 pace before withdrawing around 14 kms.

“Unfortunately the enormous pressure of expectation took its toll today and affected her stomach, amongst other things,” Hendrik Pfeiffer said. “Esther set off at record pace, but due to her condition she was unable to continue. She will be back and still has big plans for the marathon.”

Finland’s European marathon champion Alisa Vainio also failed to finish, dropping out before 10 kms.

Top 14 performances all-time, including three by Assefa from nine different women:

Adola returns to the Brandenburg Gate

The men’s race also produced an Ethiopian winner.

Guye Adola ran 2:02:50 to win in Berlin for the second time, nine years after making his marathon debut on the same course.

A group of eight reached halfway in 1:01:01 before Adola, Gemechu Diriba and Selemon Barega separated from the field shortly before 30 kms.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by BMW BERLIN-MARATHON (@berlinmarathon)

The three Ethiopians did not remain together for long.

Adola increased the pace with just under 10 kms remaining and gradually pulled clear. The 35-year-old finished in 2:02:50, smashing his previous personal best of 2:03:46 — the time he ran when finishing second in his Berlin debut in 2017.

“I am very happy – the race was good, but also tough,” Adola said. “I was confident because I had trained well and my coach was optimistic too.”

Adola, at 35, had set his personal best in 2017, nine years earlier, in Berlin in 2:03:46. To take nearly a minute off his personal best a decade later is truly amazing.

Adola and Assefa are both coached by Gemedu Dedefo in Addis Ababa.

Diriba finished second in 2:03:19, while Tanzania’s Gabriel Geay was third in 2:03:59.

Haftom Welday was the fastest German in 16th place, running 2:08:25 — just 12 seconds slower than his personal best.

Welday, 36, had failed to finish in Berlin in both 2024 and 2025. This time he took a more conservative approach and was rewarded with a solid result.

“My preparation did not go all that well, so I am happy and grateful to have achieved such a result today,” Welday said. “Next spring, I want to improve on my personal best.”

Yuhei Urano of Japan set a new personal best. His previous best was 2:06:23 from Tokyo last March.

Top men to 2:02:50

*a = downhill greater than 1m per km.

Berlin, by the numbers

More than 56,000 runners from 162 nations entered the 52nd BMW BERLIN-MARATHON, making it by far the largest marathon in German-speaking Europe.

The combined winning times of 2:11:04 and 2:02:50 produced an aggregate of 4:13:54 — the second-fastest combined men’s and women’s winning time in marathon history.

Only the 2024 Chicago Marathon, at 4:12:40, was faster.

Berlin once again supplied what it tends to supply: fast running, enormous numbers and a finishing straight where somebody usually arrives believing they are about to rewrite the record book.

This time, Assefa got close enough to see it before her Achilles intervened.

Eight of the top-10 men and seven of the top-10 women were from Ethiopia.

Results

Men

Women