From 800m to Marathon Gold: The Inspiring Journey of Tigst Assefa

Tigst Assefa, a teenager who began her athletics career as an 800m runner, had the opportunity to represent her nation at the Rio 2016 Olympics. Despite not advancing past the qualifying rounds, she credits the experience as invaluable. Unfortunately, an Achilles tendon injury forced her to switch to road racing.

After taking a two-year break to recover, Assefa made her debut in Dubai with a finishing time of 34:35 in the 10k race. In 2019, she improved on this performance by nearly three minutes and made her half marathon debut in Valencia, Spain. She ran an impressive time of 1:08:25.

The global pandemic caused another two-year break in Assefa’s training but she returned under the guidance of coach Gemedu Dedefo, who has also coached world champion Tamirat Tola. This preparation led to Assefa’s marathon debut in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia where she finished in 2:34:01 despite not being fully fit.

Six months later, Assefa achieved a stunning victory at the Berlin Marathon with a time of 2:15:37, which is considered one of the fastest times ever recorded for women runners. Her coach praised her performance stating that she was the fastest woman he had ever seen.

Assefa’s incredible achievement earned her recognition as the fastest woman ever and she attributes her success to hard work and determination. When asked about her chances for participating in Paris Olympics next year, she remained humble and stated that it is up to committee members to decide but expressed hope that she will get another opportunity to compete on international stage once again