World Athletics has officially ratified a series of extraordinary performances that made headlines earlier this year, with new world records now standing in the women’s marathon (women-only category) and the men’s 35km race walk. The records, set by Tigist Assefa, Evan Dunfee, and Massimo Stano, represent a new era of elite endurance achievements in road racing and race walking.
Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa, the Olympic silver medallist and former world record holder, delivered a remarkable performance at the London Marathon on 27 April, clocking 2:15:50 to set a new women-only world marathon record. This mark surpassed the previous record of 2:16:16 set just days earlier by Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya, also in London.
“When I crossed the line, I felt extreme happiness,” Assefa said following her victory. Her London performance now stands as the third-fastest marathon of her career, behind her sensational 2:11:53 at Berlin 2023 (then a mixed-race world record) and her 2:15:37 in Berlin 2022.
Despite her record being broken later in a mixed race by Ruth Chepngetich (2:09:56 in Chicago, October 2024), Assefa remains determined: “What I am really thinking about going forward is to try and get my world record back.”
Canada’s Evan Dunfee, Olympic and world bronze medallist, set the 35km race walk world record at the Dudince 50 in Slovakia on 22 March, clocking 2:21:40—seven seconds faster than the previous record set by Japan’s Masatora Kawano in 2024.
“I was well under pace but then lost a little time over the last seven kilometres. I got a little stressed out, but it was a dream come true,” Dunfee shared.
However, his record stood for just two months before being bettered by Italy’s Massimo Stano, who clocked 2:20:43 at the European Race Walking Team Championships in Podebrady, Czechia on 18 May. The 2021 Olympic champion surged ahead at the 23km mark and never looked back, finishing nearly three minutes ahead of the competition.
“The strategy was to close the last 20 kilometres as fast as possible,” said Stano. “That was my mission, and the world record was the consequence.”
With these ratifications, World Athletics has officially recognized not just the incredible fitness and endurance of these athletes, but also their strategic brilliance and determination to push human limits in the sport.
