Tigst Assefa

Tigst Assefa Tessema (; Oromo: Tigist Asaffaa Tasammaa; born 3 December 1996) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner and the current world record holder in the women's marathon. She has won four World Marathon Majors, twice in Berlin and twice in London. A former 800 metres specialist, Tigst switched to road races in 2018 and ran her first marathon in 2022. Tigst improved by almost three minutes (31:45) in Germany the following year, when she debuted in the half marathon at the Valencia Half Marathon in Spain, finishing fifth in 68:24. In December, she won the Bahrain Royal Night Half Marathon in Manama. video1 = Crossing the finish line

On 24 September, wearing super shoes, Tigst competed at the 2023 Berlin Marathon and set a new female world record with a time of 2:11:53, chopping two minutes and eleven seconds from Brigid Kosgei's record of 2:14:04 from the 2019 Chicago Marathon. Tigst became the first woman to break the 2:14, 2:13 and 2:12 barriers in a marathon. She completed the first half of the race almost two minutes faster than the previous year with a time of 66:20 and the second half in 65:33. Tigst beat the runner-up by almost six minutes, with the assistance of pacemaker Girmay Birhanu Gebru for almost the entire race.

This was the first time that an Ethiopian woman broke the marathon world record. Tigst's time was faster than the old men's world best mark of her compatriot Abebe Bikila, who in 1960. Her time would have been the men's world record until December 1967. She received an World Athlete of the Year award in the Out of Stadium category.

Tigst's record was later initially broken by Ruth Chepng'etich, who ran 2:09:56 at the 2024 Chicago Marathon; however, while Chepng'etich was banned for doping in 2025, her record remains.

2024: Olympic games 2024 – silver medal on the marathon On August 11, 2024, Tigst finished second in the Olympic marathon with a time of 2:22:58, three seconds behind winner Sifan Hassan. In the final sprint, Tigst drifted towards the barriers, resulting in a collision with Hassan and causing both athletes to stumble. Hassan then passed Tigst and won the race by the narrowest margin in the history of women's olympic marathons. Afterwards, the Ethiopian team filed a protest to disqualify Hassan due to obstruction, which was rejected by the Jury of Appeal. At the post-race news conference, Tigst stated through a translator "I didn't expect at that moment it would happen. Maybe at that moment, if she didn't push me I would have the gold."

2025: London Marathon – gold medal and breaking women's-only world record On 27 April 2025, Tigst won the 45th London Marathon and set a world record for a women-only marathon.

Achievements Information from World Athletics profile.

Personal bests

International competitions