Sabastian Sawe runs world lead in Berlin

Despite very warm conditions with temperatures of 20 Celsius and the start and up to 25 during the final part of the race the Kenyan clocked the ninth fastest time ever and a „Warm weather world record“ which is of course not an official mark. No-one has run such a fast time in so warm conditions. Sabastian Sawe was almost five minutes ahead of second placed Akira Akasaki of Japan who clocked 2:06:15. Ethiopia’s Chimdessa Debele took third in 2:06:57.

There was a close finish in the women’s race. Kenyan Rosemary Wanjiru crossed the line in 2:21:05. She was just three seconds ahead of Ethiopia’s Dera Dida. Azmera Gebru of Ethiopia followed in third with 2:21:29.

Organisers of Germany’s most spectacular road race registered more than 55,000 entries from 160 nations for the 51st BMW BERLIN-MARATHON. The race has confirmed its position among the world’s biggest marathons.

Sabastian Sawe wanted to find out how fast he could run in Berlin. The 30-year-old ran at a breathtaking marathon pace in the first half of the race. Led by pacemakers the Kenyan passed the 10 k mark in 28:26 – this pointed towards a finishing time of just under two hours. 60:16 was Sabastian Sawe’s half marathon split time, and that was exactly the pace for the world record of 60:35. While defending champion Milkesa Mengesha (Ethiopia) was unable to hold on and later dropped out the last pacemaker stopped earlier than planned at 23 k.

In the heat Sabastian Sawe now had to run alone at the front and it was no surprise that he was unable to maintain his pace. With a 1:26:06 split at 30 k he was still on course for the course record set by Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge in 2022 (2:01:09). But it was not a day for major records. “I gave it my all and I am very happy to have won the race. It was tough in the heat,” said Sabastian Sawe, who has now won all his three marathons. In 2024 he took Valencia and this spring he triumphed in London. “That was an incredible performance by Sabastian in these conditions,” said Race Director Mark Milde. A number of top runners struggled and dropped out in the heat after running too fast early on.

Hendrik Pfeiffer was the strongest German runner finishing eighth in 2:09:14. This was the best place by a German male runner in Berlin since 1990 when former national record holder Jörg Peter was third. “That was the best race of my career,” said Hendrik Pfeiffer.

Because of the warm temperatures the women’s leaders ran slower than planned from the start. Four athletes were still in the first group when the half marathon point was reached after 69:07. Shortly after the 25 k mark the favourite, Rosemary Wanjiru, pulled away and at 30 k she already had a 24-second lead. At the end the Kenyan was so exhausted that she almost lost the race in the final meters. Dera Dida was closing in but the Ethiopian had to settle for second place for the third time this year. Dida had also missed victory by just a few seconds in Dubai and Paris. Wanjiru won in 2:21:05, Dida ran 2:21:08. “I did not even realize it was getting so close at the end. I will keep working to win next time,” said Dera Dida. Wanjiru needed medical attention after finishing and did not make it for the press conference.

Germans Fabienne Königstein and Domenika Mayer produced strong performances and ran personal bests. Königstein finished sixth with 2:22:17 and became the third fastest German of all time while Mayer took eighth in 2:23:16. “I am really happy. I don’t usually run very well in the heat and it got very difficult towards the end, but the spectators pushed me,“ said Fabienne Königstein.