Chepkirui Aims for Personal Best at Berlin Marathon, Challenging Defending Champion Tigst Assefa

Kenya’s Sheila Chepkirui is setting her sights on a personal best performance at the upcoming Berlin Marathon. Chepkirui currently holds a personal best time of 2:17:29, and she aims to break this record during the race.

She plans to complete the first half of the marathon in approximately 68 minutes. Defending champion Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia will also compete in the event, with her eyes set on a course record.

Assefa’s performance in the previous year was remarkable as she improved her personal best time by over 18 minutes and shattered the course record by more than two and a half minutes, finishing in 2:15:37. Assefa expressed her excitement about running in Berlin again and hopes to further improve her time.

Regarding the possibility of breaking the world record of 2:14:04, Assefa remained cautious, stating that she is focused on improving her time but not thinking about the world record at the moment.

Both Assefa and Chepkirui have an additional goal of achieving the qualifying time for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. The competition in Ethiopia and Kenya is fierce, making it necessary to achieve super-fast times to secure one of the three Olympic spots.

Two other Ethiopian runners, Tigist Abayechew (personal best of 2:18:03) and Workenesh Edesa (best of 2:18:51), also have strong credentials and are returning to Berlin.

Last year, they finished third and fourth, along with Assefa, setting an unofficial world team record of 6:52:31.

The race director, Mark Milde, hopes that the women’s course record of 2:15:37 can be broken given the strong field. The elite women’s field is deep, featuring runners like Japan’s Hitomi Niiya, who has a personal best of 2:19:24, and Ethiopian athlete Senbere Teferi, a world record holder for 5km on the road with a time of 14:29.

A competitive race among German women is also anticipated, with a strong contingent that includes athletes with personal bests ranging from 2:25 to 2:27, making the race for potential Olympic spots highly exciting.