The Berlin Marathon is one the biggest highlights of the road running calendar and one to watch if you like to see world records being set. The last eight men’s world records have been set on the Berlin course.

That streak includes last year’s race, when Eliud Kipchope stormed to the current record of 2hrs 1min 9secs, winning the Berlin Marathon for the fourth time in the process. Kipchoge headlines the field again in 2023 and will be aiming for another world record to make up for a disappointing race earlier this year at the Boston Marathon.

Kipchoge will be challenged by a strong field of male elites, including Mark Korir and Amos Kipruto. Meanwhile the favorites for the women’s race include last year’s winner Tigist Assefa and Sheila Chepkirui.

It's not to be missed and wherever you are in the world you have options for streaming the Berlin Marathon 2023.

Berlin Marathon Live Streams

How To Watch The Berlin Marathon For Free

The Berlin Marathon will be live-streamed on Olympics.com, but only in the following territories: Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, Georgia, Greece, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Norway, Romania, Sweden, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

You can view the full list of global broadcasters on the Berlin Marathon website.

How To Watch The Berlin Marathon In The US, Canada, UK, Australia And New Zealand

Subscription platform FloSports is streaming the Berlin Marathon in multiple territories: the US, Canada, UK, Australia, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Estonia, New Zealand, Turkey and Latvia. 

A subscription costs $29.99 a month in the US and £25.99 a month in the UK, or $149.99/£109.99 a year. 

The FloSport app is available on Chromecast, Amazon Fire Stick, Apple TV and mobile devices. 

How To Watch The Berlin Marathon From Outside Your Country Of Residence

You can use a VPN to watch the Berlin Marathon if you’re outside your country of residence and want access to your usual services. Our sister site TechRadar has tested the top VPN services extensively and recommends ExpressVPN as its top pick. ExpressVPN is simple to set up and allows you to watch on several devices at once, and it comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee to you can test the service before opting for a long-term plan.

Berlin Marathon Details

The Berlin Marathon is the perfect race for setting PRs. Its famously flat and fast course has been the setting for the last eight world record times in the marathon, a streak that goes back to 2004.

In 2022 Eliud Kipchoge set the world record at the Berlin Marathon, an incredible 2h 1min 9sec. I wasn’t exactly hot on his heels, but I did clock 2hr 28min 34sec to finish 146th at the race, and while you’d probably rather get Kipchoge’s advice than mine, he has other things to think about this week since he’s racing Berlin again, so you’re stuck with me.

The overall elevation of the Berlin marathon course is low and it’s also consistently flat. The one spike on the elevation chart, which comes at around the 16-mile mark, is barely noticeable when running, at least in my experience. This allows you to create a strict race plan and stick to it, more so than with other marathons that have more ups and downs—even the London Marathon has more noticeable hills that can throw you off.

If you don’t have a plan already, that’s probably not great news given that it’s race week, but don’t despair because you can borrow mine. Here are three things I did in Berlin that I’d do again, and one I wouldn’t.

I Ran 3km Splits

Berlin has a lot of long straights and there are several points where you’ll tick off a few kilometers without making a turn. Given that, I found I liked having longer splits of 3km set up on my watch, where I could hit a target pace for that period and try to switch off and relax in between beeps, rather than looking out for each kilometer marker. You could go for 5km splits, but that’s a little too long to wait for a lap in my mind, and 3km neatly splits the marathon up into 14 laps.

It’s also a more open marathon than many city events, so my GPS accuracy was pretty good over a 3km stretch. I also didn’t feel the need to “correct” the distance by manually splitting at each kilometer marker, which I do during the London Marathon, especially around Canary Wharf.

I Started Slower Than My Goal Pace

Running a negative split—where you run the second half faster than the first—is generally considered a smart way to pace a marathon, and Berlin’s flat course is the perfect place to do it.

On the advice of my coach, I used the first 9km of the race to slowly ramp up my pace until settling into my goal pace from 10km, which allowed me to speed up again from halfway until the last 5km, when I was able to hold on. I ran 1hr 14min 41sec for the first half then 1hr 13min 53sec for the second, and felt in good shape deep into the race. 

A slow start is always daunting because you lose seconds on your target time and that feels terrible when you know you could be running quicker. But if you stick with it, you’ll make that time back and then some by running a negative split.

I Consumed A Lot Of Carbs

I aim to consume around 60g of carbs per hour during a marathon, which in Berlin I did using Maurten 320 sports drink mix and gels. In the morning before the race I had 500ml of the drink mix, which is 80g of carbs, along with some bread for breakfast.

Then in the race I carried three 250ml soft flasks of the drink, each bottle containing 40g of carbs, plus two Maurten gels, each giving me 25g of carbs. Every 5km I’d have either half a bottle or one of the gels, so I was consuming some carbs up until 40km, and took in 170g in total during the run on top of what I had pre-race. 

I’ve used this strategy for several marathons and while carrying your own drinks is a faff, if you have a good set of shorts with waist pockets or a running belt, it works fine and once you’ve had half of each bottle, they don’t feel particularly large in a pocket in my experience. I also find a high-carb drink is easier for me to stomach than the large amount of gels you need to hit 60g of carbs per hour.

I Was Almost Late To The Starting Pen

Something to avoid at the Berlin Marathon! The bag drop and toilets at Berlin are quite a long way from the start pen I was in, and there was a very narrow entrance to the pen which meant a big crush of runners trying to get through as the minutes ticked down towards start time. I got into my pen just a couple of minutes before the start, which was extra stress that no-one needs on marathon morning, so bear in mind you’ll have a walk to the start after dropping your bag.

To ensure you arrive at the start completely prepared for the race, make sure you read this Berlin Marathon guide. 

Inspired to enter next year's race? We've got everything you need to know about marathon training, from a sub 3-hour marathon training plan to the best marathon running shoes.

Unless you avoid all running-related news like the plague, you probably know that Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge set a new men’s marathon record of 2hr 1min 9sec at the Berlin Marathon on 25th September 2022. That time broke Kipchoge’s own record of 2hr 1min 39sec, set in Berlin in 2018.

In fact, the last eight times the men’s record has been broken, it’s been done at the Berlin Marathon, a run that stretches back to Paul Tergat’s time of 2hr 4min 55sec in 2004. It’s fair to say that the Berlin course is a fast one, but that’s just one of the reasons it’s such a brilliant marathon to take part in. Here’s everything you need to know about the race.