Berlin Marathon, live.

Thirteen world records and one gate

Berlin is the marathon the organiser calls the flattest of the Abbott World Marathon Majors, and the one where more world records have fallen than anywhere else: thirteen so far.

The race starts and finishes on Straße des 17. Juni in the Tiergarten, between the Victory Column and the Brandenburg Gate, with the Reichstag and the Chancellery beside the runners’ area. The field leaves in start groups from A to K, so a runner in a late group may cross the start line long after the first wave is gone. The last metres are the ones everyone knows: the course runs through the Brandenburg Gate just before the finish line. The 2026 edition was run on Sunday 27 September with more than 50,000 finishers; from 2027 the race is called the GENERALI BERLIN-MARATHON, and its next date is 26 September 2027.

There are 15 aid stations on the 42.195 km. Water stands at km 5, 12, 17.5, 22.5, 27.5, 32.5, 34.5, 38 and 40; water, fruit, tea and drink mix at km 9, 15, 20, 25, 30 and 36, and a gel at 27.5. Olivaer Platz, just after km 33, is a fixed point on the map, and the organiser counts 80 live bands along the way. On a course this flat, the story of the day is the pace, not the profile.

That is what Livebib shows. The runner shares a link to their own broadcast, and family and friends open it in a browser, no account and no app. They see the position on the course line, the distance covered and a finish estimate that updates as the race goes, marked as estimated, never as measured. If the phone drops signal somewhere between the boulevards, the position is carried forward along the course instead of freezing. The runner decides who gets the link.