Background and career
Tigst Assefa Tessema (Amharic: ትእግስት አሰፋ; Oromo: Tigist Asaffaa Tasammaa; born 3 December 1996) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner and the current world record holder in the women's marathon (women only race). She has won four World Marathon Majors, twice in Berlin and twice in London. A former 800 metres specialist, Tigst switched to road races in 2018 and ran her first marathon in 2022.
At the age of 16, she won the bronze medal in the 800 metres at the 2013 African Junior Championships. She finished fourth at the senior African Championships the following year, and then represented Ethiopia in the event at the 2016 Rio Olympics aged 19. Tigst ran the then third-fastest female marathon in history at the 2022 Berlin Marathon and defeated the world record by 2 minutes and 11 seconds at the 2023 Berlin Marathon, on 24 September, with a time of 2 hours 11 minutes and 53 seconds, becoming the first woman to break the 2:14, 2:13, and 2:12 barriers in a marathon. Tigst subsequently set the world record for a women's-only marathon at the 2025 London Marathon, a record she went on to break herself one year later.
