Press Release - Berlin Marathon - 9/20/21

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

                       BMW BERLIN-MARATHON on Sunday:                 
     The Race renowned for World Records makes its Comeback next Sunday

A contingent of some of the world's top runners and around 25,000 mass 
participants will be on the start line next Sunday, September 26, for the 
47th edition of the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON. The Ethiopian superstar Kenenisa 
Bekele heads the men's entry while his compatriot Hiwot Gebrekidan is an 
equally strong contender for the women's title. 

If Kenenisa Bekele can summon similar form to that which he showed on the 
streets of Berlin two years ago when he came within two seconds of the 
world record with his time of 2:01:41, a very fast and dramatic title 
defence should be in prospect.

The women's race also offers potential for a top time, given the presence 
of Hiwot Gebrekidan in Berlin, who has run the fastest women's marathon in 
the world this year in taking the Milan title with a personal best of 
2:19:35.

Good strength in depth is also a keynote of both elite fields: the men 
feature a ten runners with personal bests of sub-2:07 while the women's 
field shows six who have run under 2:25 and another five sub-2:30.

Two of Germany's leading marathoners will be competing on Sunday: Philipp 
Pflieger and Rabea Schöneborn, the latter competing in her home city.

The BMW BERLIN-MARATHON forms the Abbott World Marathon Majors series 
together with the races in Boston, Chicago, London, New York and Tokyo. It 
is Germany's biggest and most spectacular road race. 

The BMW BERLIN-MARATHON will take place under strict hygiene rules after 
the 2020 edition had to be cancelled because of the Corona pandemic. Given 
the continuing conditions imposed by the pandemic, the number of starters 
for this year has been considerably reduced. Two years ago the BMW 
BERLIN-MARATHON registered a record 43,987 finishers who ran through the 
Brandenburg Gate to the finish line. This year around 25,000 runners are 
expected to compete. This number potentially could make the BMW 
BERLIN-MARATHON the biggest marathon worldwide since the Corona pandemic 
began. Organizer SCC Events has already staged two big running events in 
the past two months in the German capital, a 10k race and the GENERALI 
BERLIN HALF MARATHON. 

The BMW BERLIN-MARATHON has an unparalleled history in terms of the eleven 
world records broken on its course. Marathon landmarks in history have been 
achieved here, firstly in 2001 when Japan's Olympic champion Naoko 
Takahashi ran 2:19:46 to become the first woman to break 2:20; then two 
years later when Paul Tergat became the first man to break 2:05 when the 
Kenyan won in 2:04:55. The current men's world record was also set at the 
BMW BERLIN-MARATHON when Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya ran 2:01:39.

Fastest Runners on the Start List

MEN:

Kenenisa Bekele   ETH 2:01:41
Guye Adola        ETH 2:03:36
Eliud Kiptanui    KEN 2:05:21
Philemon Kacheran KEN 2:06:05
Festus Talam      KEN 2:06:13
Tadu Abate        ETH 2:06:13
Olika Adugna      ETH 2:06:15
Tesfaye Lencho    ETH 2:06:18
Hidekazu Hijikata JPN 2:06:26
Michael Njenga    KEN 2:06:43
Josphat Boit      KEN 2:07:20
Kazuki Muramoto   JPN 2:07:36
Taku Fujimoto     JPN 2:07:57

WOMEN:

Hiwot Gebrekidan    ETH 2:19:35
Shure Demise        ETH 2:20:59
Helen Tola          ETH 2:21:01
Ruth Chebitok       KEN 2:23:29
Bethelhem Moges     ETH 2:23:38
Fancy Chemutai      KEN 2:24:27
Rabea Schöneborn    GER 2:27:03
Iwona Bernardelli   POL 2:27:47
Martina Strähl      SUI 2:28:07
Izabela Paszkiewicz POL 2:28:12
Edith Chelimo       KEN 2:29:03

More information is available online at: www.berlin-marathon.com 

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