Berlin Marathon: Sawe out with injury, Gabriel Geay and Guye Adola are favorites for September 27

Kenyan Sabastian Sawe, the world marathon record holder, will not be at the start of the BMW Berlin Marathon on Sunday, September 27, 2026. Injured, he has withdrawn from defending his title and will attend the race as a guest of honor, organizers announced. It is a significant absence for the man who ran 1:59:30 in London in 2026, becoming the first athlete to break the two-hour barrier in an official marathon, according to Run247.

A field that remains overwhelmingly African

The withdrawal of the defending champion reopens the race without lowering the level of competition. The fastest time on the start list now belongs to Tanzanian Gabriel Geay, credited with 2:03:00, the seventeenth-fastest performer in history according to the Berlin organization. Alongside him, Ethiopian Guye Adola, winner in Berlin in 2021, arrives with a personal best of 2:03:46 and a victory at the Rotterdam Marathon in the spring of 2026 in 2:03:54.

The Ethiopian delegation is particularly deep: Getaneh Molla (2:03:34) and Shura Kitata (2:03:59) round out the top of the list, while Selemon Barega, the Olympic 10,000m champion, will compete in only his third marathon with a personal best of 2:05:00. In total, twenty-six entrants have already run under 2:08:00.

Assefa and Wanjiru lead the women's race

In the women's field, Ethiopian Tigst Assefa, a two-time winner of the event and author of a 2:11:53 finish on this course in 2023, returns to Berlin accompanied by her training partner Amane Beriso. Kenyan Rosemary Wanjiru defends her title, having won in 2:21:05 in 2025, reports Run247. Finland's Alisa Vainio, the 2026 European champion, will be one of the few capable of challenging this dominance.

A course built for fast times

Berlin remains the fastest track on the world circuit: the course record is held by Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge, with 2:01:09 in 2022. The elite will start at 8:45 a.m. Berlin time, in an edition that brings together more than 56,000 registered runners from 162 countries.

From the streets of Nairobi to the Ethiopian highlands, East African runners continue to write almost the entirety of the recent history of the marathon. Sawe's absence changes nothing about this reality: on Sunday, under the Brandenburg Gate, the winner will most likely be African.