A Fast Girl From Holeta<\/h2>\n
Tigst was quick from the very start. At 12, she won bronze in the 400m at the 2009 Ethiopian Championships, racing against grown women. At 15, she ran the 400m for Ethiopia at the 2012 African Championships in Porto Novo, Benin, and clocked 54.05 seconds in the heats.<\/p>\n
Then she moved up to the 800m. In 2013 she became Ethiopian junior champion and won bronze at the African Junior Championships in Mauritius, plus silver in the 4 x 400m relay. A year later, at the Diamond League meeting in Lausanne, she ran 1:59.24. That is still her best time for two laps. She also won the ISTAF meeting in Berlin that summer, a city that would matter a great deal to her later.<\/p>\n
In 2016 she ran the 800m at the World Indoor Championships in Portland and at the Rio Olympics. She did not get past the first round at either. She was 19.<\/p>\n
The Injury That Sent Her to the Road<\/h2>\n
After Rio, a long running problem with her Achilles tendon made it too painful to train in spikes. So Tigst left the track. She took two years away and came back on the road, running a 10 km race in Dubai in November 2018 in 34:35.<\/p>\n
In 2019 she ran 31:45 for 10 km in Germany and finished fifth at the Valencia Half Marathon in 68:24. But she got hurt again in Valencia, and this time it was serious. Between the injury and the pandemic, she did not race for two more years. Many runners would have quit.<\/p>\n
Berlin 2022: An 18 Minute Jump<\/h2>\n
Tigst finally ran her first marathon in Riyadh in March 2022. She finished seventh in 2:34:01, a quiet start. Over the next few months she won five shorter road races in a row, and her speed came back. She ran 30:52 for 10 km in Langueux, France, and 67:28 for the half marathon in Herzogenaurach, Germany.<\/p>\n
Then came Berlin in September. Tigst won in 2:15:37, more than 18 minutes faster than her debut. At the time, only Brigid Kosgei and Paula Radcliffe had ever run faster. She even ran the second half quicker than the first. In December she added a win at the Royal Night Half Marathon in Bahrain.<\/p>\n On September 24, 2023, Tigst went back to Berlin and changed women’s marathon running. She finished in 2:11:53 and took two minutes and 11 seconds off the world record. Brigid Kosgei’s old mark of 2:14:04 had stood since 2019.<\/p>\n Tigst became the first woman to break 2:14, 2:13 and 2:12, all in one race. She went through halfway in 66:20 and came home even faster, in 65:33. The next woman finished almost six minutes behind her.<\/p>\n She was also the first Ethiopian woman ever to hold the marathon world record. Her time was faster than the 1960 Olympic winning time of Abebe Bikila, and it would have been the men’s world record until late 1967. At the end of 2023, World Athletics named her its Athlete of the Year for out of stadium events.<\/p>\n Ruth Chepng’etich of Kenya later ran 2:09:56 in Chicago in 2024, and that is still the world record.<\/p>\n Tigst finished second at the 2024 London Marathon in 2:16:23. Then came the Olympics. On August 11, 2024, the Paris marathon ended in a sprint between Tigst and Sifan Hassan<\/a>, the Ethiopian born runner who races for the Netherlands.<\/p>\n In the last few hundred meters the two women bumped, and both lost their stride. Sifan passed her and won by three seconds, the closest finish ever in a women’s Olympic marathon. Tigst won silver in 2:22:58. Ethiopia asked for Sifan to be disqualified, but the judges said no. Tigst told reporters afterward that she felt she could have won gold if she had not been pushed.<\/p>\n The London course does not use male pacemakers in the women’s race, so it has its own record for a women only marathon. Tigst made that record hers on April 27, 2025, winning London in 2:15:50.<\/p>\n In September 2025 she took another silver, this time at the World Championships in Tokyo, in 2:24:45.<\/p>\n Then she went back to London on April 26, 2026, and beat her own record. Kenya’s Hellen Obiri and Joyciline Jepkosgei stayed with her until the last few kilometers. On Birdcage Walk, Tigst picked up the pace, broke them both and ran down The Mall alone in 2:15:41. Obiri was 12 seconds back and Jepkosgei finished third in 2:15:55. It was the first time three women had run under 2:16 in the same race.<\/p>\n “I screamed when I finished because I knew I was breaking the world record,” Tigst said.<\/p>\n Her toughest race came on September 27, 2026, back in Berlin. Tigst was flying. She reached 40 km in 2:03:00, on pace to finish near 2:09:44, which would have been a new world record. Then her right Achilles gave way.<\/p>\n She limped through the last stretch and still won, in 2:11:04. It was her third Berlin title, a new course record and the fastest marathon of her life. Her manager, Gianni Demadonna, said she had felt pain from about 31 km and could not walk after the finish. Haile Gebrselassie helped her out of the finish area.<\/p>\n For now, the road back is slow. Her manager said she might need about two months without walking, then walking and cycling, and later easy running. No date has been set for her next race.<\/p>\n She has come back from worse. The Achilles trouble pushed her off the track in 2016, and a second injury cost her two more years. Each time, Tigst returned faster. Ethiopian fans will be waiting to see her on a start line again, and her name sits all over our list of Ethiopian marathon winners by year<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Tigst](\"https:\/\/tewnet.com\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/inbody-tigst-assefa-berlin-2023.jpg\")
Berlin 2023: The World Record<\/h2>\n
Paris 2024: Three Seconds From Gold<\/h2>\n
![\"Tigst](\"https:\/\/tewnet.com\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/inbody-tigst-assefa-london-2024.jpg\")
London Becomes Her City<\/h2>\n
Berlin 2026: Winning on a Torn Achilles<\/h2>\n
\n\n
\n \nDate<\/th>\n Race<\/th>\n Place<\/th>\n Time<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n \n March 2022<\/td>\n Riyadh Marathon<\/td>\n 7th<\/td>\n 2:34:01<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n September 2022<\/td>\n Berlin Marathon<\/td>\n 1st<\/td>\n 2:15:37<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n September 24, 2023<\/td>\n Berlin Marathon<\/td>\n 1st<\/td>\n 2:11:53 (world record at the time)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n April 21, 2024<\/td>\n London Marathon<\/td>\n 2nd<\/td>\n 2:16:23<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n August 11, 2024<\/td>\n Paris Olympics<\/td>\n 2nd<\/td>\n 2:22:58<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n April 27, 2025<\/td>\n London Marathon<\/td>\n 1st<\/td>\n 2:15:50 (women only world record)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n September 2025<\/td>\n World Championships, Tokyo<\/td>\n 2nd<\/td>\n 2:24:45<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n April 26, 2026<\/td>\n London Marathon<\/td>\n 1st<\/td>\n 2:15:41 (women only world record)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n September 27, 2026<\/td>\n Berlin Marathon<\/td>\n 1st<\/td>\n 2:11:04 (course record)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n What Comes Next for Tigst<\/h2>\n