New world record: Women’s-only marathon

Sedona Sweginnis | Sports Editor

May 9, 2025

At the London Marathon last Sunday, April 27, Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa finished in 2:15:50, setting a new world record for the women-only marathon. While she and other elite women distance runners have run faster than this in past races, this record is for a marathon of only women racing together, without the advantage of male pacers. This race featured a remarkable performance from Assefa, spurred on by my excellent competition, which resulted in Assefa destroying the previous course record as well. 

The lead pack in this competitive race set off at an ambitious pace, under their goal of 2 hours and 15 minutes, completing the first 5k in 15:34 pace. These top competitors consisted of Tigst Assefa, who placed second in last year’s London Marathon; Joyciline Jepkosgei, who won the London Marathon in 2021; Sifan Hassan, who is the reigning Olympic gold medalist in the marathon; and Haven Hailu Desse, who won the Osaka Women’s Marathon in 2023. The talent and competitiveness of this field was undeniable, with such well-decorated and successful athletes competing. 

Assefa’s victory did not come without a fight, especially against such a formidable repertoire of competitors. Hassan began to fall off pace early on in the race, but Assefa did not take comfort in this, repeatedly looking back at her, haunted by the memory of Hassan’s dramatic Olympic comeback to win the Olympics, forcing Assefa down to silver. However, Assefa, followed closely by Jepkosgei, pulled far enough away from Hassan that she had no way of achieving a feat similar to her jaw-dropping Paris Olympic finish last year. 

With Hassan out of the picture, the race was simply a duel between Assefa and Jepkosgei, with the added element of racing the clock for both the women’s-only world record and the London course record, both of which these women made clear were well within their reach. 

At mile 24, Assefa dropped down to a 5:03 pace, causing her to drop Jepkosgei and develop a significant lead. She did not falter and finished strong, successfully breaking the women’s only world record and the London Marathon course record. Jepkosgei crossed nearly three minutes after Assefa with an impressive 2:18:44, followed closely by Hassan, who clawed her way back near the front to finish in 2:19:00. 17 seconds later, Hailu Desse surged across the line, achieving a new personal best of 2:19:17.

Aside from Assefa’s breakaway finish, this race featured a very close and very talented field. The competition and success of these women reveal just how far women’s sports, especially distance running, have come in the last century. Women were not allowed in the Boston or New York Marathons until 1972 and were constantly discouraged from distance running until all too recently.

A varsity cross-country and track runner from a family of talented female runners, junior Caiya McAlister expressed that “its really cool to see how far [women’s] running and sports in general have com,” especially considering the contrast between “now where women have their own marathon” whereas “the first marathon a woman ran” involved her being forced off of the course as women were not yet allowed. McAlister also stated that it was encouraging to her as a female runner to see “that women can break records without men to pace them,” revealing just how far the women’s side of this sport has come. 

McAliser’s teammate and dedicated runner, sophomore Addison Carey, was similarly inspired by this new record, explaining that this record “shows that women don’t need to depend on men and the gap” between the two is “getting smaller.” This record, along with the increasing success of other female athletes, offers encouragement to young girls, showing them that they too can go against the odds and achieve their dreams. Carey also noted that “as a runner” who knows firsthand “how difficult it is to run even close to that pace,” she has an immense “appreciation for how fast they were going” and the magnitude of this achievement.

Overall, Assafa’s new record serves as evidence of the rapid advancement of women’s sports as well as an inspiration to the next generation of female athletes who hope to one day accomplish their dreams just as Assafa did last Sunday.