Berlin Marathon winner Tigst Assefa 'completely destroyed' her Achilles chasing world record

BERLIN (AP) — Berlin Marathon winner Tigst Assefa “completely destroyed” her right Achilles tendon trying to regain her world record.

Assefa was on well on course to beat Ruth Chepng’etich’s world record with 2 kilometers remaining in Sunday’s race when she suddenly began limping with what appeared to be cramps. She grimaced and kept running in visible pain before ultimately finishing 68 seconds behind Chepng’etich’s mark of 2:09:56 from Chicago in 2024.

It transpired Assefa suffered a “complete rupture of the right Achilles tendon,” her representative Gianni Demadonna told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Demadonna said the Ethiopian runner had been in pain from the 31st kilometer but decided to continue running before the injury struck at the 40K mark.

“She was no longer able to run, because when she was going to put her foot on the ground she had no power,” Demadonna said. “She completely destroyed the tendon at the end, because running without the tendon — I mean the last 500 meters maybe she ran without the tendon, you know, only with the heel, so that was a disaster because maybe (if) she had stopped, (it) was not so bad, but she ran 2 kilometers with the problem.”

The 29-year-old Assefa still ran the third fastest time ever in 2:11:04. It's her third victory in Berlin after 2022 and 2023, but she had been pushing for another world record after her record time of 2:11:53 in 2023.

Chepng’etich lowered that mark by nearly two minutes the following year, but was banned for three years in 2025 after admitting a doping violation. The Kenyan runner’s record still stands.

Assefa was on course to smash Chepng’etich’s record on Sunday.

“She was on to run 2:09:30, 2:09:40, so that was the goal, and she still had 8 minutes (to run) the last 2.2 kilometers. That is amazing,” Demadonna said.

Assefa collapsed after crossing the line and was attended to by a medic as well as compatriot and marathon great Haile Gebrselassie, among others. She skipped the post-race formalities and was flown to Munich before undergoing what Demadonna called “very complex surgery” on her ankle on Monday at a hospital in Murnau, a town near the Austrian border southwest of Munich.

Demadonna, who was on his way back home to Italy after leaving Assefa in the hospital, said she will see another doctor in Munich on Thursday to see how the surgery went and to start her rehabilitation. He said she will need to use crutches for around six weeks by which time she will have started exercises for movement of the tendon.

“After starting walking and bicycle, maybe (she can) start running in three months, so I think seven months to compete in another marathon, maybe London Marathon 2027 at the end of April, but difficult to say now,” Demadonna said. “We have to stay patient and see what the doctor will say.”

He added that Assefa “is very sad, but what can we do? She knows that it’s a long way to recover, but the doctor said, ‘don’t worry, you can recover.’ So we will see.”

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

Ethiopia's Tigist Assefa crosses the finish line to win he Berlin Marathon in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Ethiopia's Tigist Assefa is lead away by former runner Haile Gebrselassie, left, after winning the Berlin Marathon in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Ethiopia's Tigist Assefa crosses the finish line to win the Berlin Marathon in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Ethiopia's Tigist Assefa is lead away by former runner Haile Gebrselassie, left, and a medical after winning the Berlin Marathon in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Ethiopia's Tigist Assefa kneels on the ground after winning he Berlin Marathon in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Iran's Revolutionary Guard urged Americans in a message ahead of U.S. midterm elections to take to the streets and rally against Donald Trump, claiming the U.S. president's war in the Middle East has failed.

Meanwhile, in the occupied West Bank, settlers rioted, throwing rocks, blocking roads and setting Palestinian property on fire to prevent a Palestinian man escorted by the Israeli military from returning to his home in the village of Jalud.

Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Tuesday. Full coverage is available here.

Gen. Hossein Mohebbi, spokesman for the Revolutionary Guard, held a news conference in Tehran, Iran's capital, on Tuesday and read from what he said was a “letter to the American people.”

Reading from the prepared text, he said that the only way for the war to end is for Washington to admit defeat and leave. The message was apparently meant for the U.S. public just weeks ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections for the U.S. Senate and Congress — a vote in which Trump’s Republican Party faces fierce headwinds as it looks to maintain control of Congress.

Later, in remarks to The Associated Press, Mohebbi urged Americans to take to the streets and protest Trump's policies to denounce what he called the U.S. government’s war-mongering policies.

Mohebbi also said Americans should “revise their decision” about their leaders.

He accused the United States of using Iran’s nuclear program as a ruse to “plunder Iran’s wealth” and to turn the country “back into a colony.” The U.S. military action and economic sanctions would not get Tehran to submit.

Meanwhile, Iran’s currency fell to a new record low Tuesday, with traders in Tehran exchanging more than 2.5 million rials to the U.S. dollar, a sign of how the conflict has further eroded Iran's economy.

The decline came after the rial hit its previous record low of 2.2 million to the dollar on Sept. 2. The currency has repeatedly reached new lows since the war began in February.

Over a hundred Israeli settlers scuffled with Israeli soldiers who were trying to escort a Palestinian man to his home in the West Bank village of Jalud.

The homeowner, Mahmoud Tubasi, told the AP that the soldiers initially brought him to his home but that rioting settlers forced him to leave with his family in a military vehicle. He said he still can't access the house, which settlers have besieged for two months.

Israel’s military acknowledged that the overnight mission to return the family “was not completed” and that three officers were injured by settlers who threw rocks, blocked roads and set Palestinian property on fire.

Israeli police said they arrested three settlers suspected of participating in the riot, which was condemned by Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Gidon Saar and President Isaac Herzog.

The Israeli military has struggled to quell the latest wave of settler violence. Rights groups have accused the military of colluding with the settlers.

An Israeli strike on an apartment west of Gaza City killed two people, including a Hamas commander who the Israeli military said was involved in plotting attacks and recruiting new members for the militant group.

Al-Shifa Hospital officials said Tuesday the strike also wounded five others.

Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said the overnight strike targeted Izz al-Din Bik, a commander in the Hamas militant group’s northern Gaza brigade.

Hamas confirmed the death of al-Bik, claiming in a statement he was one of the main overseers of the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on southern Israel, which killed over 1,200 and prompted the war in Gaza.

More than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed since a ceasefire took effect nearly a year ago, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, while over 74,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began. The ministry maintains detailed records that are generally seen as reliable. It does not distinguish between civilians and militants, but says women and children make up around half of the fatalities.

A mass funeral was held Tuesday in Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp for nearly 50 people killed during the war.

The remains, wrapped in white bags and draped with Palestinian flags, were recovered last week from the rubble of buildings destroyed almost three years ago.

Mass funerals have become more common in Gaza, where Israel has not allowed the heavy machinery needed to clear the rubble of destroyed buildings and recover the dead.

Earlier this month, the United Nations estimated that more than 8,000 bodies remain buried under the debris.

For some, partial remains were all they had to bury.

Areej Farajallah said two of her husband’s bones were found last week. She is also mourning her child, who was among those buried Tuesday.

Abdel-Nasser al-Tawil said his home was hit Oct. 15, 2023, in the early days of the war. He said he recovered 13 bodies Tuesday with the help of the Red Cross and Palestinian Civil Defense workers ahead of the funeral.

This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.

An Iranian missile is displayed under the country's national flag in a military exhibition commemorating the anniversary of the start of the 1980-88 Iraq-Iran war at Baharestan Square, in Tehran, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Iranian missiles and banners showing portraits of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, center, and the late armed forces commanders and nuclear scientists, who were killed in Israel and U.S. strikes, are displayed in a military exhibition commemorating the anniversary of the start of the 1980-88 Iraq-Iran war at Baharestan Square, in Tehran, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A crow sits on a drone displayed in a military exhibition commemorating the anniversary of the start of the 1980-88 Iraq-Iran war at Baharestan Square, in Tehran, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

This image taken from video released by Al-Masirah TV, a channel run by Yemen's Houthi rebels, on Monday, Sept. 28, 2026, shows what the channel said were Houthi fighters and local residents searching through the rubble of a house following a strike by Saudi-backed forces in the town of Kadhah, in Taiz province, Yemen. (Al-Masirah TV via AP)

Iran's Revolutionary Guard spokesman Gen. Hossein Mohebbi speaks during a news conference in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)