2026 BERLIN MARATHON PREVIEW: SAWE OUT, ASSEFA TARGETS THE RECORD, GEAY LEADS THE MEN
The 2026 Berlin Marathon on Sunday, September 27, will go ahead without Sabastian Sawe, the world record holder and defending champion, who withdrew on August 27 with a stress fracture in his right tibia. His absence leaves a men's field headed by Gabriel Geay of Tanzania at 2:03:00 and a women's field led by Tigst Assefa, who has said she intends to attack the world record on the course where she set it in 2023.
Sawe Out
Sawe ran 1:59:30 at the London Marathon in April, the first sub-two-hour marathon in a sanctioned race, and won Berlin last year in 2:02:16. Organizers announced his withdrawal a month before the race, and his agent later told LetsRun that the injury was a slight stress fracture and that a return in spring 2027 was the target rather than any autumn marathon.
The withdrawal removes the possibility of a world record attempt in the men's race. It does not remove the depth. The organizers named 36 elite men, 22 of whom have run 2:06:57 or faster.
The Men's Field
Geay leads on personal best with 2:03:00. Getaneh Molla of Ethiopia has run 2:03:34, and Guye Adola, the 2021 Berlin champion, has a best of 2:03:46. Shura Kitata has run 2:03:59 and Dejene Hailu 2:04:15.
Erick Sang of Kenya, at 2:04:30, is the fastest non-Ethiopian after Geay. Selemon Barega, the Olympic 10,000-meter champion from Tokyo, is listed at 2:05:00 and was eighth on the start list by time when it was published, which says something about the field. Tadu Abate, who won the Mexico City Marathon in 2025, has a best of 2:05:38, and Kenya Sonota of Japan is the fastest non-African entrant at 2:05:59.
Six of the men have run under 2:05. The course record is Eliud Kipchoge's 2:01:09 from 2022, and Berlin has produced the men's world record more often than any other course.
The Women's Field
Assefa's 2:11:53 from Berlin in 2023 was the world record when she ran it and remains the course record. She is the only woman in the field under 2:16. Rosemary Wanjiru, the defending champion, who won last year in 2:21:05, has a best of 2:16:14.
The Ethiopian contingent behind Assefa is deep. Bedatu Hirpa has run 2:18:27, Dera Dida 2:18:32, Zeineba Yimer 2:18:47, Bosena Mulatie 2:19:00 and Misgane Alemayehu 2:19:08. Bekelech Gudeta, listed at 2:19:39, won Mexico City in 2025.
Eight women in the field have run under 2:20. Evaline Chirchir of Kenya and Deshun Zhang of China, at 2:20:33 and 2:20:53, round out the top 10. Amane Beriso, whom the organizers said in June would run Berlin on her return from injury, did not appear on the August start lists.
The Course
Berlin's loop starts on the Straße des 17. Juni and finishes through the Brandenburg Gate, with about 20 meters of total elevation gain over 42.195 kilometers. It has been the site of the men's world record repeatedly since Ronaldo da Costa in 1998, and it is where Kipchoge ran 2:01:39 in 2018 and 2:01:09 in 2022.
Late September weather is typically cool and calm at the 9:15 a.m. start, and the race has a field of around 45,000. The course record on the women's side, Assefa's 2:11:53, was set in the same conditions she will be hoping for again.
What to Watch
Assefa is the story. She has been open about wanting to run faster than her 2023 mark, and the pacing plan will tell early whether she is going for 2:11 or for the win. Wanjiru is the most likely challenger if the record attempt falters, but the gap between Assefa's best and everyone else's is more than four minutes.
The men's race is a contest rather than a time trial. Geay, Molla and Adola have all run inside 2:04, and Barega's presence adds a runner with championship speed over the closing kilometers. A winning time between 2:03 and 2:04 would be consistent with the 2024 race, when Milkesa Mengesha won in 2:03:17.
Our Berlin Marathon history covers the race's growth since 1974, and our analysis of why Berlin produces world records explains the course and the conditions. The elite races start at 9:15 a.m. local time.