Berlin, Sunday
The 52nd BMW Berlin Marathon is officially underway today (Sunday, September 27, 2026) with Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa launching a historic bid to reclaim the world record.
The elite fields departed the start line at 8:45am local time (9.45am East African Time). Race organizers have established heavily structured pace groups across both the men's and women's fields to facilitate historic times on Berlin's notoriously fast flat course.
The established pace structures for today's elite fields are tracking as follows:
Women's Elite Pace Groups:
World Record Group (Assefa): Tasked with hitting the halfway mark in a scorching 64:30 to target Ruth Chepngetich's world record mark of 2:09:56;
2:13 Pace Group (Dera Dida): Ethiopia’s Dida is leading the secondary chasing pack aiming for a 2:13 finish;
2:15 Pace Group (Rosemary Wanjiru): Kenya’s defending champion is spearheading this group, looking to bring her personal best under the 2:15:00 threshold;
Chasing Groups: Sub-elite packs are organized at consistent intervals of 2:16, 2:18, and 2:20 finish paces.
Men's Elite Pace Groups:
Group 1: Paced to cross the half-marathon mark at 60:50;
Group 2: Target halfway split of 62:15;
Group 3: Target halfway split of 63:30.
Assefa enters the race as the heavy favorite, returning to the course where she previously lowered the world record to 2:11:53 in 2023.
Live tracking and splits can be followed via the official Berlin Marathon Live Results Portal.
More updates to follow …
