46th BMW BERLIN-MARATHON on 29th September 2019: Deep Berlin fields headed by Kenenisa Bekele and Gladys Cherono

Ethiopia’s superstar Kenenisa Bekele and Kenya’s triple BMW BERLIN-MARATHON champion Gladys Cherono are very much in the focus at the 46th edition of the Germany’s biggest and best quality road running spectacle.

Next Sunday Kenenisa Bekele intends to bounce back once again at the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON, a race he won in thrilling fashion three years ago with a personal best of 2:03:03.

Gladys Cherono aims to win a fourth Berlin title which would make her the sole record winner of the event. While fellow-Kenyan Vivian Cheruiyot had to cancel her start due to an Achilles tendon problem there are still six women on the start list with personal bests of sub 2:22. Five men feature personal records of sub 2:05, all of them from Ethiopia. A number of athletes will attempt to achieve the Olympic qualifying times of 2:11:30 and 2:29:30 for men and women respectively on the fast Berlin course.

Organisers recorded a record entry number of 46,983 runners from 150 nations. Along with races in Tokyo, Boston, London, Chicago and New York, the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON is part of the Abbott World Marathon Majors. For the first time the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON will be the final event in this year’s series.

After a series of disappointing results it remains to be seen in what sort of form Kenenisa Bekele is on Sunday. It is likely that his strongest rivals will be fellow-Ethiopians. Birhanu Legese took the title in Tokyo in March with 2:04:48. In 2018 he made a spectacular debut with 2:04:15 in Dubai where he was sixth. Two more of the Berlin entries were in action in Dubai 2018 and ran their personal bests there:

Leul Gebrselassie was the runner-up in 2:04:02 while Sisay Lemma clocked 2:04:08 in fifth position. While Felix Kandie, who has a PB of 2:06:03, is the fastest Kenyan on the start list two fellow countrymen could be in for a surprise: Training partners Abel Kipchumba and Bethwel Yegon showed very good form in the build-up to their marathon debuts in Berlin.

After victories in 2015 and 2017 Gladys Cherono achieved her third triumph in the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON last year with a course record of 2:18:11. The Kenyan may well have to run another sub 2:20 to win title number four because there is a group of runners who have the potential to achieve such a time as well. One Ethiopian is on the start list, who has already achieved a sub 2:20 time: Mare Dibaba, who won the world marathon title in 2015 and one year later took the bronze medal at the Rio Olympics, has a personal record of 2:19:52.

There is another prominent Ethiopian athlete on the start list: Meseret Defar is the double Olympic 5,000 m champion (2004 und 2012). She has the potential to run much faster than her current PB of 2:23:33.

Elite Runners (men) with Personal Bests

Name	Nation	Personal Best
Kenenisa Bekele	ETH	2:03:03
Leul Gebrselassie	ETH	2:04:02
Sisay Lemma	ETH	2:04:08
Birhanu Legese	ETH	2:04:15
Felix Kandie	KEN	2:06:03
Jonathan Korir	KEN	2:06:51
Yohanes Gebregergish	ERI	2:08:14
Kenta Murayama	JPN	2:09:50
Kennedy Naibei	KEN	2:09:54
Shogo Kanezane	JPN	2:10:19
Willy Ngelel	KEN	2:10:31
Scott Overall	GBR	2:10:55
Liam Adams	AUS	2:11:36
Guojian Dong	CHN	2:11:42
Matt Llano	USA	2:12:28
Yuichi Yasui	JPN	2:12:39
Keisuke Kusaka	JPN	2:12:42
Philipp Pflieger	GER	2:12:50
Florent Caelen	BEL	2:12:51
Valentin Pfeil	AUT	2:12:55
Jonathan Mellor	GBR	2:12:57
Abel Kipchumba	KEN	Debut
Bethwel Yegon	KEN	Debut
Haron Lagat	USA	Debut

Elite Runners (women) with Personl Bests

Name	Nation	Personal Best
Gladys Cherono	KEN	2:18:11
Mare Dibaba	ETH	2:19:52
Haftamnesh Tesfay	ETH	2:20:13
Helen Tola	ETH	2:21:01
Ashete Bekere	ETH	2:21:14
Sally Chepyego	KEN	2:23:15
Meseret Defar	ETH	2:23:33
Rahma Tusa	ETH	2:23:46
Zhixuan Li	CHN	2:26:15
Sara Hall	USA	2:26:20
Anna Hahner	GER	2:26:44
Andrea Deelstra	NED	2:26:46
Maja Neuenschwander	SUI	2:26:49
Sally Kipyego	USA	2:28:01
Martina Strähl	SUI	2:28:07
Krista Duchene	CAN	2:28:32
Adriana Nelson	USA	2:28:52
Virginia Moloney	AUS	2:29:14
Nina Lauwaert	BEL	2:30:24
Tracy Barlow	GBR	2:30:42
Samantha Bluske	USA	2:31:55
Dawa Jila	CHN	2:31:55
Marisa Casanueva	ESP	2:32:22
Melat Kejeta	GER	Debut

Statistics 

46.983	Runners
5.081	Inline Skaters
69	Wheelchair athletes
160	Handbikers
10.151	mini-MARATHON of school kids
ca. 11.000	GENERALI BREAKFAST RUN
ca. 1.500	Bambini run for kids

 

                                     About the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON

The BMW BERLIN-MARATHON is part of the Abbott World Marathon Majors (AWMM), the group of six leading marathons in the world which was founded in 2006. They comprise Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York. The winners and leading finishers at the six AWMM races earn points according to their positions which culminate in an overall men’s and women’s winner at the end of a one-year-cycle.

The prize money for the winners amounts to US$ 250,000 each. Since 2016 the series has also included wheelchair athletes. An age group category for mass runners has now been added with a points system to decide men’s and women’s winners. Series XII begins with the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON 2018 and will end with the Berlin race in 2019. Further information about the scoring system for elite and mass competitors can be found at: www.worldmarathonmajors.com
 
Robert Fekl
Head of Communications
SCC EVENTS

The history of the BERLIN-MARATHON in a Youtube-Video