City guide
Berlin Marathon: course, world records and tips for the world's fastest marathon
When a marathon world record falls somewhere in the world, chances are it happens in Berlin. The world record has been improved on this course more than a dozen times. And even if you are not chasing world records but your own best time, this is the place.
When and where?
The Berlin Marathon takes place every year on the last weekend of September. The start is on Straße des 17. Juni in the Tiergarten, the finish just behind the Brandenburg Gate. With around 50,000 runners, Berlin is one of the largest marathons in the world and has long been one of the World Marathon Majors.
The course
The course runs through ten districts and is almost completely flat. A few highlights:
- the Victory Column right at the start, with the whole field ahead of you
- Kurfürstendamm in the second half, wide and loud
- Potsdamer Platz, where your legs start asking questions
- Jannowitzbrücke, roughly where the marathon really begins
- and then the moment the Brandenburg Gate appears at the end of the street. You do not forget that.
Bands, drum groups and more than a million spectators make sure it never goes quiet.
Why is Berlin so fast?
A flat course, few corners, wide streets and usually cool autumn weather. Plus a huge field where you find company for almost any finish time. If you are after a personal best, there are few better places in Europe.
Getting a place
Most places are allocated by ballot. Registration opens in autumn of the previous year, shortly after the race. The odds are modest, so it is worth looking at charity places and official travel packages as well. You do not need a qualifying time for the ballot.
And then?
Then you are a Berlin finisher and allowed to show it. Our Berlin 42.2 shirt carries the TV Tower and Brandenburg Gate on the back, a techno soundwave for the capital and 42.195 below. And if Berlin was only the start: here are the Marathon Majors.
