Addis Ababa, July 4, 2025 (FMC) — World Athletics has ratified the women-only marathon world record set earlier this year by Ethiopian athlete Tigist Assefa at the London Marathon.
Assefa clocked 2:15:50 on April 27 to win the World Athletics Platinum Label road race, improving the previous women-only world record by 26 seconds. That previous record of 2:16:16 had been set by Kenya’s Peres Jepchirchir, also in London, just six days earlier on April 21, 2024.
“When I crossed the line, I felt extreme happiness,” Assefa said.
The performance marks the third-fastest marathon of her career. Her personal best remains 2:11:53, achieved in Berlin in 2023 during a mixed race, which at the time stood as a world record. She also ran 2:15:37 in Berlin in 2022.
Assefa’s 2:11:53 remains the second-fastest women’s marathon time ever, following Ruth Chepngetich’s 2:09:56 set in Chicago in October, which broke Assefa’s previous record.
“Having won today, what I am really thinking about going forward is to try and get my world record back for the marathon (in a mixed race),” Assefa added.
World Athletics also ratified records set by Canada’s Evan Dunfee, who ran 2:21:40 in the 35km race walk in Dudince, Slovakia, on March 22, and Italy’s Massimo Stano, who improved that mark with a 2:20:43 finish at the European Race Walking Team Championships in Czechia on May 18.