Tigst Assefa goes back to Berlin on Sunday, Sept. 27, to the stretch of road where she ran 2:11:53 in 2023 and took two minutes and 11 seconds off the women’s world record. That mark no longer stands, and she has been clear about why she’s there. “I am excited to once again try to break the world record,” she said when organizers announced the women’s field in June.
The men’s race lost its headline act on Aug. 27, when Sabastian Sawe withdrew with an injury. Sawe won here last year in 2:02:16 and then ran 1:59:30 in London in April, the first marathon inside two hours in an eligible race and a mark World Athletics ratified over the summer. What he leaves behind is not a thin field. The 15 fastest men entered are all inside 2:06:30, and the elite list runs 25 deep under 2:08.
The Essentials
| Date | Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026 |
| Edition | 52nd |
| Elite handbike start | 8:20 a.m. CEST |
| Elite wheelchair start | 8:26 a.m. CEST |
| Handbike and wheelchair field | 8:29 a.m. CEST |
| Runners | From 8:45 a.m. CEST in six waves, blocks A to K |
| Start | Straße des 17. Juni, between the Brandenburg Gate and the Kleiner Stern |
| Finish | Straße des 17. Juni, through the Brandenburg Gate |
| Distance | 26.2 miles (42.195K) |
| Course cutoff | 3:40 p.m. at 33K |
| Time limit | 6:15:00 from crossing the line, finish closes at 5 p.m. |
| Field | More than 56,000 runners from over 160 countries |
The waves go at 8:45 a.m. (blocks A, B and C), 9:05 a.m. (D and E), 9:33 a.m. (F and G), 10:02 a.m. (H), 10:12 a.m. (J) and 10:27 a.m. (K). Block entry closes well before that, as early as 7 a.m. for the front three, so the practical instruction for anyone racing is to be in the Tiergarten a good deal earlier than the start time on the bib suggests.
How to Watch
In Germany, RTL carries the race free to air from 8:30 a.m. to roughly 12:15 p.m. CEST, with the same feed on the RTL+ app, per the organizers’ spectator guide. The race’s own YouTube channel runs a finish line livestream that carries on after the television broadcast ends, which is the one worth bookmarking if you are tracking a friend in a later wave.
In the United States, FloTrack has it, and it needs a subscription. Coverage begins at 2:30 a.m. Eastern, which is 11:30 p.m. Pacific on Saturday night. Berlin is on CEST, six hours ahead of the American East Coast and one hour ahead of the United Kingdom, so the elite waves go off at 2:45 a.m. Eastern and 7:45 a.m. in Britain. FloTrack archives the broadcast for subscribers.
The Course
Berlin is the fastest marathon course in the world, and the reason is dull in the best way: it is flat, it is wide, and it is run in late September. The route starts on Straße des 17. Juni between the Brandenburg Gate and the Kleiner Stern, works west and south through Charlottenburg and Schöneberg, out to Zehlendorf, back up through Friedenau and Kreuzberg and Mitte, and finishes on the same road it started on after passing under the Brandenburg Gate. There are no hills to speak of and few sharp corners.
The marathon world record has been broken in Berlin 13 times. Christa Vahlensieck set one here in 1977, Naoko Takahashi became the first woman under 2:20 here in 2001, Ronaldo da Costa broke the men’s record here in 1998, and Eliud Kipchoge’s 2:01:09 from 2022 is still the fastest anyone has run on the course. Assefa’s 2:11:53 remains the women’s course record.
Two things on the road catch runners out. There are tram tracks at 8K and again at 38K, and the second set arrives when legs are least willing to pick up. Drinks are at 5, 12, 17.5, 22.5, 27.5, 32.5, 34.5, 38 and 40K, with fruit and sports drink added at 9, 15, 20, 25, 30 and 36K.
The Women’s Race
Assefa, 29, is the most decorated marathoner on either start list. She won Berlin in 2022 in 2:15:37 and again in 2023 in 2:11:53, took Olympic silver in Paris and world silver in Tokyo, and in April ran 2:15:41 in London to lower her own women’s-only world record. The overall record she is chasing belongs to Ruth Chepngetich, whose 2:09:56 from Chicago in 2024 survived the three-year doping ban she accepted in October 2025, because the positive test came afterward. Assefa has run 2:11:53 once, on this course, in conditions she has called perfect. Getting under 2:09:56 means finding almost two more minutes.
Rosemary Wanjiru comes back as defending champion. The Kenyan won here in 2025 in 2:21:05, three seconds ahead of Dera Dida after a finish that was in doubt until the final straight, and she was runner-up in Berlin in 2022. Her best is 2:16:14. Dida is back too, with a 2:18:32 best, along with Bedatu Hirpa (2:18:27), Zeineba Yimer (2:18:47) and Bosena Mulatie (2:19:00).
The European interest sits with Alisa Vainio. The Finn won the European title in Birmingham this summer in a championship record 2:22:26 and ran 2:20:39 in Seville in February, which made her the fastest Scandinavian marathoner in history, past Ingrid Kristiansen’s 2:21:06.
Women’s elite field
| Athlete | Country | Personal best |
|---|---|---|
| Tigst Assefa | Ethiopia | 2:11:53 |
| Rosemary Wanjiru | Kenya | 2:16:14 |
| Bedatu Hirpa | Ethiopia | 2:18:27 |
| Dera Dida | Ethiopia | 2:18:32 |
| Zeineba Yimer | Ethiopia | 2:18:47 |
| Bosena Mulatie | Ethiopia | 2:19:00 |
| Misgane Alemayehu | Ethiopia | 2:19:08 |
| Bekelech Gudeta | Ethiopia | 2:19:39 |
| Evaline Chirchir | Kenya | 2:20:33 |
| Alisa Vainio | Finland | 2:20:39 |
| Deshun Zhang | China | 2:20:53 |
| Gadise Mulu | Ethiopia | 2:20:59 |
| Eebbisee Addunyaa | Ethiopia | 2:21:13 |
| Aminet Ahmed | Ethiopia | 2:21:24 |
| Rika Kaseda | Japan | 2:21:55 |
The Men’s Race
Gabriel Geay comes in on paper as the second-quickest man in the field, still in the middle of his career. The Tanzanian ran 2:03:00 in Valencia in 2022 and was runner-up at Boston in 2023, but a World Marathon Major win has so far eluded him.
Behind him, the list is still quite deep for a race missing its favorite. Getaneh Molla has run 2:03:34 and was second in Seoul in March. Guye Adola knows this road better than anyone in the field: he was second here on debut in 2017, beaten by Kipchoge by 14 seconds, and won here in 2021. Shura Kitata, the 2020 London winner, has 2:03:59. Erick Sang, Selemon Barega and Taresa Tolosa are all inside 2:05:20, and a Japanese contingent of five runs from 2:05:59 to 2:06:26.
Then there is Kenenisa Bekele, who is 44 and entered anyway. He won Berlin in 2016 and again in 2019, when his 2:01:41 finished two seconds off Kipchoge’s world record, and it is still his personal best seven years later. At 41 he ran 2:04:15 at London for a masters world record, and at the Paris Olympics he was 39th. Organizers have said plainly that a win is not the expectation, which leaves the more interesting question of what a 44-year-old with that engine can still do on a fast day.
Men’s elite field
| Athlete | Country | Personal best |
|---|---|---|
| Kenenisa Bekele | Ethiopia | 2:01:41 |
| Gabriel Geay | Tanzania | 2:03:00 |
| Getaneh Molla | Ethiopia | 2:03:34 |
| Guye Adola | Ethiopia | 2:03:46 |
| Shura Kitata | Ethiopia | 2:03:59 |
| Erick Sang | Kenya | 2:04:30 |
| Selemon Barega | Ethiopia | 2:05:00 |
| Taresa Tolosa | Ethiopia | 2:05:17 |
| Tadu Abate | Ethiopia | 2:05:38 |
| Asefa Boki | Ethiopia | 2:05:40 |
| Kenya Sonota | Japan | 2:05:59 |
| Tsubasa Ichiyama | Japan | 2:06:00 |
| Kiyoto Hirabayashi | Japan | 2:06:14 |
| Yuhei Urano | Japan | 2:06:23 |
| Hidekazu Hijikata | Japan | 2:06:26 |
The German Runners
The home entry worth watching is Esther Pfeiffer, who is going after Irina Mikitenko’s German record of 2:19:19, set in Berlin in 2008. On her marathon best that looks absurd, because it is 2:37:00 from her debut in Cologne three years ago. On everything she has run since, it does not: she went 1:07:25 for the half in March and 30:45 for 10K in April. “If I can complete my training as planned leading up to the Marathon in Berlin, and if the weather cooperates, I will be aiming for the German record,” she said.
On the men’s side, Sebastian Hendel leads a Marathon Team Berlin group and is targeting around 2:07:00 after a year interrupted by illness. Aaron Bienenfeld ran 2:08:47 in Hamburg in April, the fastest marathon debut by a German. Haftom Welday (2:08:13) and Johannes Motschmann, who is chasing his first sub-2:10, are also in. Kristina Hendel and Anna Langerwisch lead the German women behind Pfeiffer.
The Weather
The forecast as of Tuesday has Sunday clear and dry in Berlin, with only a 7 percent chance of rain, a low of 52 F (11 C) and a high of 70 F (21 C). At the gun it should be around 55 F (13 C) with humidity near 67 percent. That is close to ideal for the front of the race, which will be finished before 11 a.m., and less so for anyone still out at 1 p.m. The swing is about 18 degrees F across the day, and the later waves will feel all of it.
The Rest of the Weekend
The expo is at Tempelhof Airport, Platz der Luftbrücke 5, and it is where every runner collects a bib. It opens Thursday, Sept. 24 from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m., Friday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Entry is free.
Saturday has two races on closed roads. A 5K starts at 10 a.m. from Potsdamer Platz and finishes on Straße des 17. Juni past the Brandenburg Gate, with a one-hour limit. The inline skating marathon follows at 12:20 p.m., off the same start line as Sunday’s race, with a 2:10:00 limit and a cutoff at the Victory Column at 3:10 p.m.
The Wheelchair, Handbike and Skating Races
Marcel Hug has won the Berlin wheelchair marathon 10 times since 2011 and starts at 8:26 a.m. In the women’s race, Catherine Debrunner, the world No. 1 who won on her marathon debut here in 2022 and holds the course record at 1:34:16, lines up against Manuela Schär, a three-time World Marathon Majors series champion with seven Berlin wins. Jetze Plat of the Netherlands, who won three Paralympic golds in Paris, leads the handbikes at 8:20 a.m.
Saturday’s skating race has its own history. Bart Swings of Belgium holds the course record and has won it nine times. Ewen Fernandez, the 2025 champion, and Felix Rijhnen, who won in 2019, are both back. In the women’s race, Aubane Plouhinec returns as 2025 champion against Noraly Berber Vonk, who won in 2024 and was second last year.
Watching From the Street
The standing grandstands either side of the road before the finish are free and open to anyone, with entry from the Brandenburg Gate side. Crossing the course in the finish area is only possible at Pariser Platz. The family meeting point is in front of the Paul Löbe House, organized by the first letter of the runner’s surname.
For anyone tracking a single runner, the reliable spots are Kurfürstendamm at around 12K, Potsdamer Platz at around 30K and the Brandenburg Gate at the end. The last runners will be on the course until 5 p.m.
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