Assefa Runs Berlin With Nobody to Chase
Rosemary Wanjiru wants 2:15:00. Alisa Vainio wants 2:20:00. At world record pace, nobody else is in the picture.
Berlin on Sunday hands Tigst Assefa the loneliest job in the sport: chase the world record with nobody alongside her. Defending champion Rosemary Wanjiru is aiming for 2:15:00. European champion Alisa Vainio is aiming for 2:20:00. Which leaves the Ethiopian at record pace with only her pacemakers for company.
2:15:00 and 2:20:00. Those are the plans of the two fastest women she will see all day.
This is the whole romance of a record attempt on a flat, fast, indifferent city course. No duel, no cat and mouse, nobody to tow her through the middle of the race. Just a clock, a line on the road, and a pace nobody else in the field intends to run.