Assefa congratulates Chepngetich for breaking her World Record

Paris Olympics marathon silver medallist, Tigest Assefa has sent her congratulatory message to the reigning marathon world record holder, Ruth Chepngetich for demolishing her record at the Chicago marathon last Sunday.

Assefa ran then the third-fastest female marathon in history at the 2022 Berlin Marathon when she obliterated the world record by 2 minutes and 11 seconds at the 2023 Berlin Marathon, on 24 September, with a time of 2 hours 11 minutes and 53 seconds, becoming the first woman to break the 2:14, 2:13, and 2:12 barriers in a marathon.

The 27 year-old world record was broken by Chepng’etich, who ran 2:09.56 at the 2024 Chicago M

Assefa who is also the double World Marathon Major champion expressed her sportsmanship when she congratulated the current record holder with a good will message.

‘’Congrats to Ruth Chepngetich for breaking the world record, I’ll strive to bring the title back to Ethiopia,’’ said the 2013 African Junior bronze medallist.

Chepngetich shocked the world when she became the first woman to break 2 hours and 10 minutes in the marathon.

The 30 year-old has an impressive record at the Chicago Marathon as she also won the race in 2021 and 2022 and took second position last year.

The 2019 World Marathon champion was obvious from early on in the race, in which she averaged a speed of 4:57.4 per mile. She ran the first 5k in just 15 minutes, and completed the first half of the course in 1:04.16, which would have been the fifth-fastest women’s half-marathon of all time.

The three time world marathon major champion earned $100,000 as prize money with another addition of $50,000 for breaking the course record.