The Berlin Marathon “will not be able to go ahead as planned” on Sept. 27 after the local government ruled events with more than 5,000 people are banned until Oct. 24.
It’s not known if the World Marathon Major event, which last year had 62,444 participants across all events, will be canceled, postponed or held on the same date but with fewer than 5,000 people.
“We will now deal with the consequences of the official prohibition of our events, coordinate the further steps and inform you as soon as we can,” organizers said in a Tuesday statement.
The Berlin Marathon is known as the world’s fastest thanks to a pancake-flat course and, usually, optimal weather. The last seven times the men’s world record fell, it came in Berlin. Most recently, when Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge lowered it to 2:01:39 in 2018.
Berlin is the first of the major fall marathons -- the only one scheduled in September -- and the first to be altered due to the coronavirus. The other major fall marathons are in Chicago on Oct. 11 and New York City on Nov. 1.
Major spring marathons in Boston and London, both annually held in April, were already moved to Sept. 14 and Oct. 4, respectively.
On March 1, the Tokyo Marathon (also a World Marathon Major) was restricted to elite runners without the usual mass-participation race.
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