From Olympic 800m Runner to Marathon Master: The Inspiring Journey of Tigst Assefa

Tigst Assefa made her athletics debut as an 800m runner representing her nation at the Rio 2016 Olympics, but did not advance past the qualifying rounds. The experience was invaluable and an Achilles tendon injury forced her to switch to road racing, where she made her 10k debut in Dubai in 2018, finishing in 34:35. She improved by nearly three minutes in 2019 and made her half marathon debut in Valencia, Spain, running an impressive time of 1:08:25.

The global pandemic caused another two-year break in Assefa’s training, but under the guidance of coach Gemedu Dedefo she returned to make her marathon debut in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in March 2022. Despite not being fully fit, she finished in a time of 2:34:01. Six months later, Assefa achieved a stunning victory at the Berlin Marathon, finishing with a time of 2:15:37, the third fastest time in history. Her coach praised her performance and called her the fastest woman he had ever seen.

Assefa’s incredible achievement made her the fastest woman ever and attributed it all to hard work. When asked about her chances for the Paris Olympics, she remained humble but expressed hope to participate in the Games.