The organisers for the 48th edition of the BMW Berlin Marathon expect around 45,000 participants from some 150 countries on September 25 in Germany.

With these numbers, the race will return to the size it used to have before. Apart from World record holder Eliud Kipchoge, another top contender will be the defending champion Guye Adola.

The Ethiopian won last year’s race in 2:05:45.The duo has already fought an impressive duel in 2017. The Ethiopian led in the closing stages in Berlin to run what remains his personal best of 2:03:46, finishing runner-up, 14 seconds behind Kipchoge.

“Berlin is the fastest course, it’s where a human being can showcase its potential to push the limits,” Kipchoge said.

He clearly appreciates the Berlin course and what is possible on it. After all, Kipchoge has already won three times on the Spree River and set the current marathon world record in 2018 with 2:01:39 hours.

The 37-year-old proved that he is in good shape at the Tokyo Marathon in the spring, which he won with a new course record of 2:02:40 hours.

After finishing second in 2013 he won in 2015, 2017 and 2018, a fourth victory would take Kipchoge level with the Ethiopian legend Haile Gebrselassie, who currently holds the record outright for most wins in Berlin.

In Milan in 2017 and Vienna two years later, Kipchoge went hunting for the first sub-two-hour marathon, achieving his goal in Vienna’s Prater Park in 2019 at time of 1:59:40.2.

 It was a performance characterised by headlines around the world as ‘Kipchoge’s Moon Landing’.

The World Athlete of the Year for 2018 and 2019 did not want to set any definite goals with almost a month to go before the race in Berlin. On the other hand, Guye Adola wants to defend his title with a time under 2:03.

Adola also knows about the advantages of the Berlin course and formulates a clear target for himself: “I am very happy to be back at the BMW Berlin marathon to defend my title from last year. I always have a good feeling about the BMW Berlin marathon because it was my debut marathon, and that time is still my personal best. This year I will try to run even faster and achieve a time under 2:03:00 hours.”We hope it will be a high quality, exciting race, a showpiece for the whole sport of running,” said race director Mark Milde.The BMW Berlin Marathon is part of the Abbott World Marathon Majors and a World Athletics Platinum Label Road.