Influencer Abeeeer disqualified from Berlin Marathon for bicycle cheating

Fitness influencer Abeeeer confessed on October 3 to cheating in the Berlin Marathon by riding a bicycle. She acknowledged violating race rules and presenting a false personal best time of 4 hours, 53 minutes, and 46 seconds.

Abeeeer publicly apologized in Chinese, stating her actions showed disrespect for the fairness of competition and the spirit of the marathon. She admitted to purposely omitting the incident when sharing her race experience online. Abeeeer said she was feeling unwell but stated this was 'no excuse' for breaking the rules.

Evidence of cheating exposed by watchdog

The Official Marathon Time Integrity Unit flagged the discrepancy. The independent online watchdog shared photographs showing Abeeeer riding on the back of a bicycle near the 38-kilometre mark of the 42.195km race.

Timing data proved damning. Her fastest 5-kilometre split occurred precisely between the 35km and 40km marks, the section where she was photographed on the bike. She covered that stretch in 30 minutes and 49 seconds, an average pace of 6:09 per kilometre. This was around five minutes quicker than her average pace for the race and coincided with the point where runners are typically most fatigued.

Sponsor terminates partnership

On October 4, Brooks China announced it had immediately terminated its partnership with Abeeeer. The company said it would never work with her again.

Brooks China apologized for failing to scrutinize her race performance closely enough. The sponsor stated it had reviewed her finishing time and social media content but admitted an oversight in not examining her split data. It acknowledged accepting her result without adequately vetting how she completed the course. Brooks China stated it would strengthen its assessment of future collaborators.

Influencer background and aftermath

Abeeeer, whose full name is Sun Yuanyuan, is a Chinese fitness influencer with over 500,000 followers on the Xiaohongshu platform. She participated in the Berlin Marathon on September 27 and initially celebrated the result as a personal best in a now-deleted post captioned 'slow is fast'.

Following the exposure, she removed all Berlin Marathon-related content from her social media accounts. Public reaction to her apology was mixed. Some commenters defended her, praising the apology and saying everyone makes mistakes. Others criticized her, claiming she only apologized because she was caught.

Broader context of race integrity

The watchdog unit stated it has seen a shift in behaviour since influencers joined the running scene. It claims influencers sometimes post unrealistic times by shaving minutes via watch pauses, imaginary finish lines, and inaccurate GPS data.

Marathon cheating, however, is not new. At the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis, Fred Lorz was disqualified after travelling part of the marathon in a car. Rosie Ruiz was stripped of the 1980 Boston Marathon title for not running the full course. In 2007, Roberto Madrazo was disqualified from the Berlin Marathon after timing records showed he missed checkpoints.

Modern technology is a key tool for enforcement. Electronic timing allows organisers to check runners’ progress at points along the course. At the 2018 Shenzhen Half Marathon, organisers used traffic-camera footage to identify 258 rule-breakers, issuing bans. In 2019, three Chinese runners received lifetime bans from the Boston Marathon for forged qualifications or bib swapping.

Scrutiny of Abeeeer's performance began on October 1. Brooks China stated it would not work with Abeeeer again and would strengthen assessment of future collaborators.