2023 Berlin Marathon
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| 49th Berlin Marathon | |
|---|---|
Winner Tigst Assefa (left) about 25 km (16 mi) into the race, alongside pacemaker Girmay Birhanu Gebru | |
| Location | Berlin, Germany |
| Dates | 24 September 2023 |
| Website | https://www.bmw-berlin-marathon.com |
| Champions | |
| Men | Eliud Kipchoge (2:02:42) |
| Women | Tigst Assefa (2:11:53 WR) |
| Wheelchair men | Marcel Hug (1:23:07) |
| Wheelchair women | Catherine Debrunner (1:34:16 WR) |
The 2023 Berlin Marathon was the 49th edition of the annual marathon race in Berlin, held on Sunday, 24 September 2023.[6][7][8][9] A Platinum Label marathon, it was the fourth of six World Marathon Majors events scheduled for 2023.[10][11] Almost 48,000 runners from 156 countries took part in the event.[7]
Ethiopian runner Tigst Assefa set a new marathon world record for women, winning the race with a time of 2:11:53, beating the previous world record of 2:14:04, set by Kenyan runner Brigid Kosgei at the 2019 Chicago Marathon by over two minutes.[12][13][14][15] Kenyan runner Eliud Kipchoge achieved a record fifth Berlin Marathon victory, winning the men's race with a time of 2:02:42.[12][16][15]
Swiss wheelchair athletes Marcel Hug and Catherine Debrunner won their races with finish times of 1:23:07 and 1:34:16, respectively.[17] This was Hug's eighth and Debrunner's second win.
Runner's World reported at the start of the year that race organizers planned to include a non-binary division for this year's race.[18] The race site for 2023 mentions having separate ratings for both men and women.[19] The 2023 event featured, for the first time in Berlin Marathon's history, a woman on the finisher medal.[20]
Kipchoge was the holder of the marathon world record, which he had set with a finish time of 2:01:09 at this race the previous year.[21][22] He is the first runner to have won the Berlin Marathon five times.[23] Kipchoge stated that his main goal is to win three consecutive Olympic gold medals, and that he believed running in Berlin was the best way to prepare for this.[24]
Assefa won the race last year with a time of 2:15:37, breaking the previous course record by more than two minutes in what was only her second marathon ever.[25]
This record fast race scored record times for other runners: a record eight women achieved times below 2:20, and a record nine men below 2:05 and 15 finished inside 2:06.[26] Additionally there were national records for Amanal Petros (Germany, 2:04:58) and Tadesse Abraham (Switzerland, 2:05:10).
In the wheelchair race, Catherine Debrunner (Switzerland) broke the world record in 1:34:16 hours.[27]
