Berlin has closed its elite entries for 27 September, and the shape of the race has changed since Sabastian Sawe withdrew with injury. The defending champion and world record holder was the reason the men’s race was being framed as a record attempt; without him, organisers have leaned on depth instead. Thirty-six men are entered, 25 of them under 2:08 and twelve at 2:05:59 or faster.
That is an unusually flat distribution for a major, and it points to a different kind of race. Berlin’s recent men’s editions have tended to be time trials built around one athlete, with the pace set to a target rather than to the opposition. A field in which a dozen runners have credible claims to the podium is more likely to produce a race decided in the last six kilometres than one decided by whether the pacemakers hold to schedule through halfway.
Among the names carrying the most history on the course is Guye Adola, who ran 2:03:46 in Berlin in 2017 on his marathon debut and finished second to Eliud Kipchoge. Gabriel Geay, the Tanzanian record holder, arrives with a 2:03:00 from Valencia in 2022. Neither is the athlete they were at their peak, but both know what the course asks and both have run quickly enough to sit in a fast group without needing to take the risk of leading it.
The women’s race has the clearer favourite. Tigst Assefa heads the entries at 2:11:53, the time she ran in Berlin in 2023 when it was a world record and which still stands as the course record. Rosemary Wanjiru returns as defending champion with a 2:16:14 to her name, and Bedatu Hirpa, a winner in both Dubai and Paris, is entered at 2:18:27. On paper Assefa has a margin of several minutes over the rest of the field, which raises the same question Berlin has faced on the men’s side for a decade: whether the interesting number is the finishing position or the clock.
Berlin sits two weeks after the world road running championships in Copenhagen and a fortnight before Chicago, which has pulled some athletes in each direction and left the autumn calendar unusually crowded at the top end. For Berlin, a flat, fast, September course with a settled reputation, the absence of a single dominant name may end up producing the more watchable race of the season.