Berlin Marathon winner Tigst Assefa finished race with torn Achilles Heel

The Ethiopian runner had been on course to challenge the women’s marathon world record before her pace dropped after the 35-kilometre mark. She visibly struggled with a leg problem, limped through the finish and collapsed soon afterwards. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

Berlin Marathon winner Tigst Assefa has undergone surgery in Munich on Monday after finishing Sunday’s race with a torn Achilles, her manager confirmed.

Assefa was on track to break the women’s marathon record until the 35-kilometre mark, when she slowed slightly and was clearly struggling with a leg injury.

The 29-year-old Ethiopian limped across the finish line and collapsed but still recorded 2:11:04, the third-best mark ever achieved by a woman over the distance.

Assefa’s manager, Gianni Demadonna, confirmed to AFP she had undergone surgery on the horrific injury at a Bavarian clinic but had finished the race with “a complete rupture of the tendon”.

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“The tendon was completely gone when she ran the last two kilometres.

“She started to feel some pain after 31km. And after practically 40km, she felt more, more, more.

“And at the last two kilometres, the tendon was losing all the fibres step-by-step and was completely torn at the end.

“She was not able to move, to do anything.”

Assefa’s sponsor flew her to Bavaria on a private jet to a clinic specialised in sports and tendon injuries where Bayern Munich and Germany midfielder Jamal Musiala also received treatment.

“She is unhappy because she tore the tendon, of course, but you cannot be happy that you lose the world record in the last two kilometres of the race,” Demadonna said.

“It’s enough that she finished the race, amazing. With a tendon like that, I don’t know how she could finish. If you see the images, she was running with one leg and the other one was just landing on the ground, it just wasn’t pushing.”

Demadonna said Assefa would miss around seven months but may be able to return for the London Marathon in April 2027.

“She is in safe hands. I hope that everything will go well. I think the recovery will be very long, very long,” Demadonna said.

Assefa, now a three-time winner in Berlin, switched from road racing to marathon running after a previous Achilles injury in 2016