Natasha Wodak takes down Malindi Elmore's Canadian women's marathon record in Berlin

Natasha Wodak shattered the Canadian women's marathon record on Sunday in Berlin.

The 40-year-old of Surrey, B.C., ran two hours 23 minutes 12 seconds to finish 12th.

She broke the previous Canadian mark of 2:24.50 set by her friend Malindi Elmore in 2020.

Wodak had run one marathon in 2013 and wasn't prepared to sacrifice her love of road and track racing to attempt another.

But once the 2020 Tokyo Olympics was postponed and rescheduled to July 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, a marathon quickly became Wodak's primary focus.

On Dec. 20, 2020, she competed in The Marathon Project and completed the 42.2-kilometre event on a flat 6.9 km loop course on the streets of Chandler, Ariz., in 2:26:19, then a personal best by nearly 10 minutes and the second-fastest time in Canadian history.

"As I've gotten older, and become a more disciplined runner, and I'm in a better place in my life, I really enjoy the training," she told The Canadian Press on Sunday. "And I've had a lot of fun with every marathon build, and challenging myself. Because it's new, right?

"The move to the marathon was a lot of fun, doing new training and challenging myself, and I really enjoyed it. And I think that's a huge part of why I've been successful, is because I really liked the training."

Ethiopia's Tigist Assefa won Sunday's race in a course record 2:15.37, the third fastest time ever and 18 minutes faster than she had ever run.

"I wasn't afraid of my rivals, even though they had faster times than me," the 26-year-old Assefa said.

Specializes in 10,000 metres on track

In October 2020, Wodak told CBC Sports: "I want to see what I can do in the marathon before I run out of time. Many of my friends and other women are running so fast in the marathon. I've been inspired over the past [few] years and I want in on that."

In recent years, she has picked the brains of Canada's elite female runners, including Elmore, and incorporated their workouts into her program.

Wodak, who is coached by Trent Stellingwerff, said her recent training indicated she could run 2:24.

On Sunday, the second half of her race was more than a minute faster than her first.

"I knew at 35K, because we had significantly dropped the pace through the last 5K, that we were well under Canadian record pace," Wodak said, moments before sitting down to a celebratory drink with her family.

"I had a pacer, and he just was like, 'Let's go, let's go.' And I just kept on him. I was tired over the last 5K, I was working really, really hard. But I knew that was just because we were running fast.

"I didn't think that I could do 24.12 … when I saw that time at the finish line, I was like, 'oh, wow, what?"'

13th in Olympic marathon

Wodak has dropped five minutes in the past nine years, although she noted the huge improvements in shoe technology have seen distance running times plummet across the board in recent years.

Wodak, who has specialized in the 10,000 metres on the track, was 13th (2:31:41) in the marathon at the Tokyo Olympics, where the then-41-year-old Elmore placed ninth (2:30:59) — the best Olympic marathon finish by a Canadian woman in a non-boycott Games — 17 years after her most recent Summer Games appearance.

It's really exciting to be a part of women's distance running right now. We are feeding off each other.— Canadian marathoner Natasha Wodak

Elmore made her Olympic debut in 2004 in the 1,500, but she fell short of qualifying for the Games in 2008 and 2012, leading her to walk away from the athletics world.

The mother of two ran in her first-ever marathon in 2019 after making her comeback.

In April, Wodak finished 19th at the Boston Marathon in 2:35:08 behind Elmore of Kelowna, B.C., who was 11th (2:27:58).

"It's really exciting to be a part of women's distance running right now," said Wodak. "We just sort of are feeding off each other. If Malindi hadn't run 2:24.50, I don't know if I would have set my goal to run 2:24 flat.

"So now Malindi is going to go run Toronto [Waterfront Marathon on Oct. 16], and she's gonna be like, 'OK, I want to run sub-2:23.' We just keep lowering the bar and it's great when we all build each other up. She wished me good luck [Saturday] and said, 'I hope you have an amazing race.' That's a really cool run community to be a part of when we all support each other."

Kipchoge's legs, body 'still feel young'

He's done it again.

Two-time Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge bettered his own world record on Sunday.

The Kenyan star clocked 2 hours, 1 minute 9 seconds to shave 30 seconds off his previous best mark of 2:01:39 set on the same course in 2018.

"My legs and my body still feel young," the 37-year-old Kipchoge said. "But the most important thing is my mind, and that also feels fresh and young. I'm so happy to break the world record."

Kenya's Rosemary Wanjiru was second on her debut in 2:18:00 — the second fastest debut ever run — just ahead of Ethiopian runner Tigist Abayechew in 2:18:03.

Kipchoge and Assefa's combined time of 4:16:46 ensured the marathon was the fastest ever. The men's record has now been set eight times in a row in Berlin, favored by runners for its flat course.

It's Kipchoge's fourth win in the city, matching the record set by Haile Gebrselassie. The Ethiopian great, like Kipchoge now, also set two world records (in 2007 and 2008) in Berlin.

Conditions in the German capital were ideal for fast racing — cool, around 11 C after a night of showers, with no more precipitation and no wind. Some 45,527 runners from 157 nations were registered to take part in the first Berlin Marathon without restrictions since the coronavirus pandemic began.

Participant numbers were reduced by nearly half under strict restrictions last year, and the 2020 race was called off due to the pandemic.