Kenenisa Bekele had hoped to end 2025 on a good note, but things did not go as planned. After dealing with injuries earlier in the year, the Ethiopian legend lined up for the New York City Marathon on November 2, hoping to put together a strong performance. The 3x Olympic champion stayed with the lead pack through the halfway mark, but his race came to an end around the 17-mile mark, with Bekele eventually being listed as a DNF. Now, 324 days later, the 44-year-old is ready to race again for the first time since then.

Bekele will return to the 2026 BMW Berlin Marathon on September 27. Interestingly, Berlin has already been the setting for some of the biggest moments of his marathon career, as it revived his marathon career at two different points.

His first Berlin win came in 2016, when he clocked 2:03:03 to take the title. The performance was the second-fastest marathon ever at the time on a record-eligible course. Then came 2019. Bekele arrived back in Berlin after several difficult years. Injuries had repeatedly interrupted his training. There were questions about whether he could once again run anywhere close to the level he had shown earlier in his career.

But then, Bekele fought his way through the closing stages of the race and produced a remarkable late surge to win in 2:01:41. He finished just two seconds behind Eliud Kipchoge’s then-world record of 2:01:39. The performance made Bekele the second-fastest marathon runner in history at the time. That 2:01:41 is still Bekele’s marathon personal best.

Of course, Bekele’s story stretches far beyond the marathon. He is a three-time Olympic champion and four-time Olympic medalist, having won the 10,000m in Athens in 2004 before completing the 5,000m and 10,000m double at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He also spent years at the top of the sport as the world record holder in the 5,000m and 10,000m. His recent marathon journey, however, has been much less predictable.

After finishing 39th in the marathon at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Bekele faced more interruptions in 2025. He withdrew from the London Marathon after minor injuries disrupted his preparation, then returned later in the year at New York, only for the race to end with a DNF. Now, after 324 days away from racing, he’s ready to line up in Berlin. But while one legendary name is returning to the start line, another major name will be missing from the field.

Berlin loses defending champion to injury

Sabastian Sawe entered 2026 as the defending Berlin Marathon champion. Sawe’s marathon career had already taken off quickly. He won his debut at the 2024 Valencia Marathon in 2:02:05, followed by a 2:02:27 victory at the 2025 London Marathon.

He then returned to Berlin in September 2025 and produced another great performance. Sawe won the race in 2:02:16, making it three wins from his first three marathons. The victory also made him the man to beat when he was expected back in Berlin in 2026 to defend his title. But Sawe’s status changed again in April.

The Kenyan broke the two-hour barrier in an official record marathon on April 26, 2026, at the London Marathon with a historic finish in 1:59:30. He further broke Kelvin Kiptum’s previous world record of 2.00:35 by 65 seconds. That performance made Sawe’s planned return to Berlin one of the biggest storylines of the race. Then injury changed those plans.

On August 27, 2026, Berlin Marathon organizers announced that Sawe had withdrawn from the race because of an injury. Then, Sawe’s agent Eric Lilot said a scan had revealed a stress fracture in his right tibia. According to the report, Sawe had felt discomfort during a physiotherapy session before undergoing an MRI, which detected the stress fracture. 

Sawe’s withdrawal means Berlin will not get the meeting many fans might have expected between the reigning champion and one of the greatest marathon names of all time. Instead, Bekele arrives with his own story, returning after almost 11 months away from racing.