The 2011

Berlin Marathon The Berlin Marathon (german: Berlin-Marathon, ) is a marathon event held annually on the streets of Berlin, Germany on the last weekend of September. Held annually since 1974, the event includes multiple races over the marathon distance of , inc ...

was the 38th edition of the annual marathon event and was held on Sunday 25 September on the streets of

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

, Germany. The men's race was won by

Patrick Makau Patrick Makau Musyoki (born 2 March 1985) is a runner from Kenya. He is a former world record holder in the marathon—His time of 2:03:38, run at the 2011 Berlin Marathon, was the world record for two years, until it was beaten by Wilson Kipsa ...

of Kenya in a

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

time of 2:03:38 hours. The women's winner was

Florence Kiplagat Florence Jebet Kiplagat (born 27 February, 1987) is a Kenyan professional long-distance runner. She is a two-time world champion, having won at the 2009 IAAF World Cross Country Championships and the 2010 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships ...

, also from Kenya, won in a time of 2:19:44 hours, which made her the ninth fastest woman of all-time. It was the first marathon she had completed in her career. In total, 32,991 runners managed to finish the 2011 edition of the marathon, comprising 25,577 men and 7414 women. Patrick Makau at the Berlin Marathon 2011

Patrick Makau at the Berlin Marathon 2011

Irina Mikitenko at the Berlin Marathon 2011

Prior to the race, the two favourites for the men's competition were Makau (the defending champion and then-fifth fastest ever) and the world record holder

Haile Gebrselassie Haile Gebrselassie ( am, ኀይሌ ገብረ ሥላሴ, ''haylē gebre silassē''; born 18 April 1973) is an Ethiopian retired long-distance track, road running athlete, and businessman. He won two Olympic gold medals and four World Champion ...

of Ethiopia – the race marked the first outing since Haile had declared retirement following a poor showing at the 2010 New York City Marathon. There were a large group of pacemakers aiding the elite men for the first part of the race. The leading group, including the two favourites and three others ( Edwin Kimaiyo, John Kyui and Emmanuel Samal), reached the halfway point in 61:44 minutes. Makau became the first runner to break away at the 26 km mark and he began zig-zagging along the course in the hope of disrupting Haile Gebrselassie, who followed. The tactic worked as the Ethiopian came to an abrupt halt, later dropping out entirely. Makau sped away unopposed and finished the race with a world record, beating his rival's former mark by 21 seconds. Behind him,

Stephen Kwelio Chemlany Stephen Kwelio Chemlany (born 9 August 1982) is a Kenyan long-distance runner who competes in the marathon. He has a personal best of 2:06:24 hours for the event. Chemlany was runner-up at the 2011 Berlin Marathon and came fourth at the 2013 Berl ...

, who started as a pacemaker, continued to the finish to take second place with a time of 2:07.55 hours and Kimaiyo was third to cross the line in 2:09:50 hours, making it a Kenyan podium sweep.Butcher, Pat (2011-09-25)
Makau stuns with 2:03:38 Marathon World record in Berlin! - UPDATED
IAAF. Retrieved on 2011-10-06.Patrick Makau breaks Haile Gebrselassie's marathon world record in Berlin

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...

(2011-09-25). Retrieved on 2011-10-06. The two headline athletes for the women's race were Germany's

Irina Mikitenko Irina Mikitenko, ''née'' Volynskaya (russian: Ирина Волынская (Микитенко); born 23 August 1972 in Bakanas, Kazakh SSR, Soviet Union), is a retired German long-distance runner who competed in marathons. She won the Ber ...

, the 2008 champion, and world record holder

Paula Radcliffe Paula Jane Radcliffe MBE (born 17 December 1973) is a former British long-distance runner. She is a three-time winner of the London Marathon (2002, 2003, 2005), three-time New York Marathon champion (2004, 2007, 2008), and 2002 Chicago Marath ...

of Great Britain. Radcliffe had not raced in a marathon for two years, due to injury and childbirth, and stated that her target was to gain the qualifying time for the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. A trio of Russians,

Lidiya Grigoryeva Lidiya Grigoryeva (russian: Лидия Григорьева; born 25 January 1974 in Smychka, Chuvash ASSR) is a Russian long-distance runner from the Chuvashia region. Running career Grigoryeva won the bronze medal in the 10,000 metres at ...

, Tatyana Petrova and Nailiya Yulamanova were considered the other main contenders for the elite women's race.Butcher, Pat (2011-09-22)
Radcliffe's long moment of truth to come in Berlin?
IAAF. Retrieved on 2011-10-06. However, it was

(the 2009 World Cross Country Champion) who assumed the lead at the start of the race and set a fast pace. Only Radcliffe followed, but she fell back after 12 km as she was unable to match the Kenyan's speed. Kiplagat was never overtaken and crossed the line in a time of 2:19:44 hours, becoming the ninth fastest woman of all-time and completing her first ever marathon (she had started the 2011 Boston Marathon but dropped out). Radcliffe was in second place for much of the race, but was overtaken after 33 km by Mikitenko, who ran a more steady-paced race. The German was the eventual runner-up in 2:22:18 hours, while Radcliffe took third with a time of 2:23:46 hours. The

wheelchair race Wheelchair racing is the racing of wheelchairs in track and road races. Wheelchair racing is open to athletes with any qualifying type of disability, amputees, spinal cord injuries, cerebral palsy and partially sighted (when combined with another ...

s saw Swiss athletes take the top two places: Marcel Hug narrowly defeated

Heinz Frei Heinz Frei (born 28 January 1958) is a Swiss wheelchair athlete. Frei has had a long career of racing, winning the London Marathon wheelchair race three times, and earning five medals at the 2003 European games at the age of 45. He has earned 1 ...

in the men's race and there was just one second between the women's winner

Edith Hunkeler Edith Wolf (née Hunkeler, born 30 July 1972) is a Swiss former wheelchair racer, who competed in the T54 classification. Wolf competed at a range of distances from 400m to marathon length events and is a multiple World and Paralympic Games win ...

and runner-up Sandra Graf. Ewan Fernandez and

Sabine Berg The Sabines (; lat, Sabini; it, Sabini, all exonyms) were an Italic peoples, Italic people who lived in the central Apennine Mountains of the ancient Italian Peninsula, also inhabiting Latium north of the Aniene, Anio before the founding of Ro ...

were the men's and women's winners in the

in-line skating Inline skating is a multi-disciplinary sport and can refer to a number of activities practiced using inline skates. Inline skates typically have two to five polyurethane wheels depending on the style of practice, arranged in a single line by a ...

marathon.

Results

Elite races

;Elite Men ;Elite women

Wheelchair

;Men ;Women

In-line skating

;Men ;Women

References

;Official results
38. BMW BERLIN-MARATHON 2011
SCC Events. Retrieved on 2011-10-06.

External links

Official Berlin Marathon website
{{World Marathon Majors 2011

Berlin Marathon 2011 in Berlin