BERLIN, Germany — Ethiopia's Guye Adola and Tigst Assefa won the men's and women's elite races at the 2026 BMW Berlin Marathon, completing an Ethiopian double at one of road running's biggest events.
Adola crossed first in an early result of 2 hours, 2 minutes and 50 seconds, taking his second Berlin title after his 2021 victory. Assefa won the women's race in 2:11:04, improving the 2:11:53 she ran in Berlin in 2023.
Guye Adola won the men's race, with fellow Ethiopian Gemechu Dida Diriba second and Tanzania's Gabriel Geay third. Tigst Assefa won the women's race in 2:11:04. The result gave Ethiopia both elite titles.
Adola wins Berlin for the second time
Adola led an Ethiopian one-two in the men's race. The live results carried by Watch Athletics listed him at 2:02:50, with Gemechu Dida Diriba second in 2:03:19.
Tanzania's Gabriel Gerald Geay took third in 2:03:59. Ethiopians Getaneh Molla and Selemon Barega followed in fourth and fifth, giving Ethiopia four of the first five finishers.
Adola's victory adds a second Berlin crown to the title he won in 2021. He first became widely known at the 2017 Berlin Marathon, when he challenged Eliud Kipchoge deep into the race on his marathon debut before finishing second.
The Kenya Times and Reference Trail displayed 2:02:51, one second slower than the live leaderboard.
Because those live sources differ by one second, XTRAfrica is using 2:02:50 as the provisional leaderboard time and preserving the discrepancy until the final certified result is stable.
Assefa returns with a 2:11:04 victory
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Guye Adola and Tigst Assefa Win Berlin
27 sept. 2026
27 sept. 2026
4 min read
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BERLIN, Germany — Ethiopia's Guye Adola and Tigst Assefa won the men's and women's elite races at the 2026 BMW Berlin Marathon, completing an Ethiopian double at one of road running's biggest events.
Adola crossed first in an early result of 2 hours, 2 minutes and 50 seconds, taking his second Berlin title after his 2021 victory. Assefa won the women's race in 2:11:04, improving the 2:11:53 she ran in Berlin in 2023.
Guye Adola won the men's race, with fellow Ethiopian Gemechu Dida Diriba second and Tanzania's Gabriel Geay third. Tigst Assefa won the women's race in 2:11:04. The result gave Ethiopia both elite titles.
Adola wins Berlin for the second time
Adola led an Ethiopian one-two in the men's race. The live results carried by Watch Athletics listed him at 2:02:50, with Gemechu Dida Diriba second in 2:03:19.
Tanzania's Gabriel Gerald Geay took third in 2:03:59. Ethiopians Getaneh Molla and Selemon Barega followed in fourth and fifth, giving Ethiopia four of the first five finishers.
Adola's victory adds a second Berlin crown to the title he won in 2021. He first became widely known at the 2017 Berlin Marathon, when he challenged Eliud Kipchoge deep into the race on his marathon debut before finishing second.
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The Kenya Times and Reference Trail displayed 2:02:51, one second slower than the live leaderboard.
Because those live sources differ by one second, XTRAfrica is using 2:02:50 as the provisional leaderboard time and preserving the discrepancy until the final certified result is stable.
Assefa returns with a 2:11:04 victory
Assefa's win carried its own historical weight. Berlin was the course where she ran 2:11:53 in 2023, then a world record and a dramatic improvement on the previous mark.
Her 2:11:04 on Sunday was 49 seconds faster than that 2023 performance and therefore a new personal best and Berlin course best. It did not lower the current outright women's marathon world record of 2:09:56.
That distinction matters because pre-race coverage focused heavily on a possible world-record attempt. Assefa missed the outright mark but still produced one of the fastest women's marathon performances in history.
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She entered Berlin after winning the 2026 London Marathon and setting the women-only world record there. Sunday's race returned her to a mixed field with male pacemakers, so the record categories are not identical.
The leading men's results
Place | Athlete | Country | Time |
1 | Guye Adola | Ethiopia | 2:02:50* |
2 | Gemechu Dida Diriba | Ethiopia | 2:03:19 |
3 | Gabriel Gerald Geay | Tanzania | 2:03:59 |
4 | Getaneh Molla | Ethiopia | 2:04:55 |
5 | Selemon Barega | Ethiopia | 2:04:58 |
The live leaderboard showed 2:02:50; some early reports showed 2:02:51.
The podium gave East Africa all three men's medals, with Ethiopia taking gold and silver and Tanzania taking bronze.
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Why the Ethiopian double matters
Berlin is a World Athletics Platinum Label race and one of the traditional World Marathon Majors. Its fast course attracts a global elite field.
The result put two Ethiopian stars back at the centre of the marathon season. Nine years after his breakout Berlin debut and five years after his first victory, Adola returned to win again.
For Assefa, 2:11:04 was faster than her former world-record performance. It strengthened her claim as one of the defining marathon runners of her generation even without the outright record.
The BMW Berlin Marathon results hub links the event's live leaderboard and runner search. Final certification should settle the one-second difference in Adola's time and complete the women's top-order table beyond Assefa.
The next step is final confirmation of all elite times and placings, followed by the organisers' detailed race report.The central result is already clear: Adola won the men's race for a second time, Assefa delivered 2:11:04 in the women's race, and Ethiopia left Berlin with both elite titles.
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