Assefa to Have Emergency Achilles Surgery After Berlin

Tigst Assefa will undergo emergency Achilles surgery in Munich after her injury cut short a world record bid at the Berlin Marathon.

Tigst Assefa produced one of the most remarkable record attempts in marathon history at Sunday's BMW Berlin Marathon, leading by a minute at 15km and hitting halfway in 1:04:57, the third-fastest halfway split ever recorded in a women's marathon. She was still projecting a 2:09:44 finish at 40km before suffering a partial tear of her achilles tendon, limping dramatically to the line in 2:11:04. The time was the third-fastest in history and took 49 seconds off her own personal best and course record of 2:11:53.

The Eastleigh Voice reports that Assefa will undergo emergency surgery in Munich on Monday after suffering a broken tendon in her right leg during the closing stages of the race. According to the outlet, her manager Gianni Demadonna confirmed the operation will be performed by renowned foot and ankle surgeon Dr Johannes Gabel, chief physician of foot and ankle surgery at BG Unfallklinik Murnau, with full assistance from Adidas. The injury is expected to keep the 29-year-old out of competition for at least six months, with The Eastleigh Voice reporting she is unlikely to return to racing until next year.

Until the injury, Assefa's pace was relentless: 10km sections of 30:48, 30:46, 30:41 and 30:45, including a 15:17 5km split between 30km and 35km that World Athletics notes would have earned 13th place in the standalone women's 5km at the recent World Road Running Championships in Copenhagen. Race director Mark Milde told BBC Sport: "She was on a world record course for most of the race but then something happened to her tendon."

Assefa's late fade means the women's world record of 2:09:56 remains in the possession of Kenya's Ruth Chepngetich, a mark AFP notes is clouded by the three-year doping ban the Kenyan received in 2025. Per The Eastleigh Voice, the performance still ranks as the third-fastest women's marathon ever, behind Chepngetich's 2:09:56 and fellow Ethiopian Fotyen Tesfay's 2:10:51 set in Barcelona earlier this year — meaning Assefa now holds the third- and fourth-fastest times in history.

While the women's drama dominated, Guye Adola completed the Ethiopian double by winning the men's race in a personal best of 2:02:50, his second Berlin title five years after his first. He ran without taking the lead until the 30km mark, then opened an unassailable gap, with compatriot Gemechu Dida second in 2:03:19 and Tanzania's Gabriel Geay third in 2:03:59. "My goal was to hold back a bit and see what the pacemakers did," Adola told Germany's RTL, adding he loves Berlin and may well be back.

She finished just 68 seconds outside the world record on Sunday despite covering the closing stretch in 8:04 while limping, and she missed the podium ceremony entirely because she was receiving medical treatment when honours were handed out, according to AFP. For a runner who has won three of her past four marathon starts, the hope will be that the reconstruction restores her to record-chasing form next year.