45,000 runners start at the Berlin Marathon
Thousands of athletes will run through Berlin again this weekend. A similar number of runners have registered as before Corona.
45,527 runners have registered for the Berlin Marathon next Sunday. The organizers announced this number on Monday. “That’s about the level we had in 2019,” said Managing Director Jürgen Lock from the organizer SCC Events, with a view to the corona pandemic in recent years. The registrations come from a record number of 157 nations. “It shows that normality is coming back,” added Lock.
Corona restrictions like in previous years will no longer exist. Mouth and nose masks no longer have to be worn in the start and finish area. From a top-level sporting point of view, the star of the run will be the two-time Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge from Kenya. The 37-year-old set the world record of 2:01:39 hours over the 42,195 kilometers in Berlin in 2018.
More than 4,000 skaters want to complete the route through the city center on Saturday. 1,400 children are expected for the Bambini run and up to 8,500 young participants for the mini marathon. On Sunday there will also be almost 100 hand bikers and around 50 wheelchair athletes.