Ethiopians Guye Adola and debutant Gotytom Gebreslase won the 47th BMW BERLIN-MARATHON in unusually warm weather conditions.
The 30 year-old Adola, who was second in Berlin four years ago, clocked 2:05:45.
Bethwel Yegon of Kenya took second place at Brandenburg Gate in 2:06:14 but it was not the day of Kenenisa Bekele.
The Ethiopian superstar attacked the world record of Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge, who ran 2:01:39 in Berlin in 2018, in the first part of the race but then had to settle for third with 2:06:47.
With temperatures above 20 degrees Celsius during the final part of the race any hopes for record times faded.
In the women’s race, Gotytom Gebreslase ran a superb debut marathon. The 26 year-old surprised the favourites and ran the third fastest time of the year with 2:20:09.