After the race, Assefa did not attend the full planned post-race activities. Her team said that, with the assistance of major sponsor adidas,she was flown by private jet from Berlin to BG Unfallklinik Murnau in Bavaria for further examination and treatment.

Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport, citing her agent Demadonna, reported that a party of four—Assefa, her husband, her coach and her agent—left Berlin by private jet, then travelled by car from the Munich area to the hospital in Murnau.

On the morning of September 28, Assefa underwent Achilles tendon surgery.The operation was performed by foot-and-ankle specialist Dr. Johannes Gabel and his team at BG Unfallklinik Murnau.

Demadonna later revealed that the surgery went smoothly.Assefa remained in hospital for postoperative observation; the latest plan is for her to be discharged on Thursday, October 1.

Discharge does not mean she will immediately return to Ethiopia. According to information Demadonna provided to Pura Vida Sports Africa on September 29,Assefa will stay in the Munich area for the first phase of rehabilitation, and will only plan to return to Addis Ababa afterwards.

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On when she might be able to race again, Demadonna’s assessment was: “If rehabilitation goes well, it could take six to seven months.”

Details previously reported by La Gazzetta dello Sport indicate thatin the initial postoperative phase Assefa is expected to wear a fixed brace for about six weeks, after which she can gradually move into further functional recovery.

However, for a world-class marathoner who must withstand enormous running loads, progressing from basic rehabilitation to resuming structured training and then being capable of competing in top-level marathons,You can't simply extrapolate from the typical recovery timeline for a standard Achilles surgery.

At this stage, Asefa and her medical team have not announced a definitive return-to-racing plan.

For Asefa, the injury occurred in a race that was on the verge of rewriting the women's marathon world record. She ran 2:11:53 at the 2023 Berlin Marathon, improving the women's world record at the time by more than two minutes in a single effort.

Three years later, back in Berlin, she ran even faster than she had before:Even after suffering a serious injury in the final two kilometers, her eventual 2:11:04 was still 49 seconds faster than her previous Berlin mark.

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But what made this race truly unusual was not just the result.

Up until around 40 km, Asefa was still challenging the 2:09:56 world record; then her right Achilles completely ruptured, and her pace and running form changed almost instantly — yet she still finished the remaining distance.

Now, with the surgery complete, that world-record attempt has officially moved off the 42.195 km course and into a recovery process that could last more than six months.

There is currently no definite answer for when Asefa will be able to start running again, when she can resume structured training, or when she might return to the marathon scene.

According to the latest plan released by her team on September 29, she must first complete early rehabilitation in Germany. If all goes well, 6 to 7 months is the approximate return-to-competition window her team currently gives.

For Asefa — who once pushed the women's marathon into the 2:11 era and again approached the 2:10 barrier in Berlin —the real question now is no longer the world record, but how she will complete this long comeback.