Berlin Marathon Weather History: What 20+ Years of Data Reveals
Eight world records, a record-hot 2025, and a loop course where wind never sticks around: what Berlin Marathon weather really looks like, year by year.
Berlin doesn't feel like a course built for suffering. It's flat, wide, and famously fast, and late September in Germany usually delivers weather that stays out of the way and lets the legs do the work. That combination is a big part of why eight men's world records have been set on these streets since 2003, more than on any other marathon course in history.
"Usually" is doing real work in that sentence, though. The 2025 race hit 27.6°C (81.7°F), the hottest Berlin Marathon on record, and Sabastian Sawe still ran the ninth-fastest marathon ever run in the middle of it. Two years earlier, the field raced under cloud cover at a mild 12.5°C with barely a breeze. Berlin's weather window is narrower than Boston's or Chicago's. It still swings enough to change how your race goes.
The Numbers: More Than 20 Years of Berlin Marathon Weather
This table covers race-day conditions from 2003 through 2025, the years that saw eight men's world records fall on this course. Start temperatures reflect Tiergarten readings near the 9:15 AM gun, and highs are measured later in the race. Where an exact figure wasn't available in official reporting, it's shown as an approximation consistent with Berlin's known climate for that period, marked with a tilde.
| Year | Start Temp | High | Wind | Rain | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 71°F | 80°F | 9 mph S | None | Hottest Berlin Marathon on record (81.7°F), Sawe wins in the heat at 2:02:16 |
| 2024 | 48°F | 58°F | 6 mph W | None | Cool and calm, Mengesha edges Kotut by 5 seconds, 2:03:17 to 2:03:22 |
| 2023 | ~52°F | ~58°F | 6 mph, light | None | Mostly cloudy, mild. Kipchoge's 5th Berlin win (2:02:42), Assefa's women's WR 2:11:53 |
| 2022 | ~53°F | 58°F | 4 mph, light | None | Coolest recent edition, Kipchoge WR 2:01:09 after overnight showers cleared |
| 2021 | ~55°F | ~63°F | Light | None | First edition back after the 2020 COVID cancellation, smaller field |
| 2020* | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Cancelled due to COVID-19 |
| 2019 | ~54°F | ~61°F | Breezy | Damp | Windy and damp, Bekele misses Kipchoge's WR by 2 seconds, 2:01:41 |
| 2018 | ~57°F | ~65°F | 7 mph, light | None | Ideal conditions, Kipchoge WR 2:01:39, first sub-2:02 |
| 2017 | ~58°F | ~62°F | Moderate | Rain | Wet, slick roads. Kipchoge wins but slows to 2:03:32 |
| 2016 | ~53°F | ~63°F | Light | Slight chance | Fast and calm, Bekele wins in 2:03:03, second-fastest in history at the time |
| 2015 | ~52°F | ~62°F | Light | Slight chance | Seasonal, no major storms reported |
| 2014 | 46°F | ~57°F | Light | None | Kimetto WR 2:02:57, first sub-2:03, 5th Berlin WR in 8 years |
| 2013 | ~50°F | ~60°F | Light | None | Kipsang WR 2:03:23 |
| 2012 | ~52°F | ~62°F | Light | Slight chance | Seasonal, no record |
| 2011 | ~52°F | 63°F | Light | None | Sunny and mild, Makau WR 2:03:38 a year after winning in a downpour |
| 2010 | ~54°F | ~58°F | Moderate | Heavy | First rain-affected Berlin Marathon in 20 years, Makau wins in 2:05:08 |
| 2009 | ~68°F | 77°F | Light | None | Then-hottest Berlin Marathon on record (since broken by 2025) |
| 2008 | 50°F | 57°F | Light | None | "Everything was perfect": Gebrselassie WR 2:03:59, first sub-2:04 |
| 2007 | ~52°F | ~60°F | Light | None | Gebrselassie WR 2:04:26, breaking Tergat's mark |
| 2003 | ~50°F | ~60°F | Light | None | Tergat WR 2:04:55, first sub-2:05 marathon |
* The 2020 Berlin Marathon was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Berlin's temperature range is unusually tight for a major marathon: most years land within a few degrees of the 56°F average. The 2025 race broke that pattern hard, hitting 81.7°F and proving even a normally forgiving course can turn on you.
Why Wind Works Differently on a Loop Course
Boston is point-to-point: Hopkinton to Copley Square, one direction the whole way. An easterly headwind there means 26.2 miles of resistance with no relief. Berlin is a loop that starts and finishes near the Brandenburg Gate, threading north through Mitte, east onto Karl-Marx-Allee, south into Kreuzberg, west through Wilmersdorf and Schöneberg, and back. The course changes direction constantly. Whatever the wind is doing, you're only fighting it for part of the race, and you're getting help from it for another part.
That geometry is a big reason Berlin doesn't produce the brutal wind days Boston does. There's no 26-mile wind tunnel scenario here. But "gentle on average" doesn't mean "gentle everywhere." A handful of stretches sit exposed enough to matter: Straße des 17. Juni through the Tiergarten at the start and finish, the wide expanse of Karl-Marx-Allee around km 10–13, and the Oberbaumbrücke bridge crossing the Spree at roughly the halfway point. Wind speeds under 10 kph rarely register on the rest of the course, but they get funneled and amplified on these open sections.
The practical upshot is that Berlin rewards running by effort rather than fixed pace through those exposed stretches, then trusting the course to hand some of that energy back a few kilometers later. Treating a headwind gust on the Oberbaumbrücke the way you'd treat mile 18 into an easterly at Boston, digging in and holding goal pace no matter what, is the wrong instinct here. The wind isn't going to stay against you.
Berlin's loop means wind direction flips as the course turns, so there's rarely a sustained headwind or tailwind the way point-to-point courses like Boston have. The exceptions are the open stretches: the Tiergarten, Karl-Marx-Allee, and the Oberbaumbrücke bridge, where even modest wind gets channeled.
The Worst Weather Years
2025: The Hottest Berlin Marathon Ever
Race morning started warm and only got worse. The 9:15 AM gun went off at 21°C (70°F) with humidity already climbing, and by midday the course had reached 27.6°C (81.7°F), a full two and a half degrees above the previous heat record set in 2009. Runners across the field adjusted strategy early rather than betting on conditions improving. They didn't.
Sabastian Sawe won anyway, in 2:02:16, the ninth-fastest marathon ever recorded and, by a wide margin, the fastest time ever run at Berlin in heat like that. It was an outlier performance on an outlier day. Most of the field ran considerably slower than the flat, fast course would normally allow.
2017: The Wet Year
Rain moved in before the gun and stayed. Roads turned slick through Mitte and Kreuzberg, and the course lost the crisp, fast character it's known for. Eliud Kipchoge still won, but in 2:03:32, well off what a dry, calm Berlin usually produces from him. The following year, with sunshine and light wind, he'd run 2:01:39 on the same course and take nearly two minutes off his own wet-weather time.
2010: Rain Breaks a 20-Year Streak
Before 2010, Berlin had gone two decades without a race meaningfully disrupted by rain. That streak ended with a genuine downpour. Patrick Makau won in 2:05:08, respectable but far off world-record pace, in conditions that made the usually reliable course feel unpredictable for a change. He'd return the next year in sun and calm air to run 2:03:38.
2009: The Old Heat Record
Before 2025 reset the bar, 2009 was Berlin's hottest edition on record at roughly 25°C (77°F). It's a useful reminder that Berlin's late-September date doesn't guarantee cool weather. Indian summer conditions have shown up more than once, and both times they did, they slowed the entire field down, not just the people chasing records.
The Best Weather Years
2008: "Everything Was Perfect"
Haile Gebrselassie described race morning himself: sunshine, temperatures rising gently from 10°C (50°F) at the gun to 14°C (57°F) at the finish, and next to no wind. He used it to run 2:03:59, breaking his own world record from the year before by 27 seconds and becoming the first person to break the 2:04 barrier. "The weather, the pacemakers, everything was perfect," he said afterward, and the data backs him up. It's about as close to textbook marathon weather as the science supports.
2011: Sun After a Downpour
A year after winning in driving rain at 2:05:08, Patrick Makau came back to a completely different Berlin: sunny skies, mild temperatures, calm air. He ran 2:03:38, a world record, in conditions that showed exactly what this course can do when the weather cooperates instead of fighting back.
2018: The Template Day
High 50s at the start, mid 60s by the finish, wind topping out around 7 mph, no rain. Nothing dramatic, nothing that needed adjusting for. Eliud Kipchoge used it to run 2:01:39, breaking Dennis Kimetto's four-year-old world record by 1 minute 18 seconds. The conditions were unremarkable in the best possible way. Nobody had to fight the weather to run fast.
2022: The Coolest Recent Edition
Overnight showers cleared out before the gun, leaving temperatures in the low-to-mid 50s, next to no wind, and air that felt genuinely fast. Kipchoge lowered his own world record again, to 2:01:09, in what still stands as the coolest average temperature Berlin has recorded in its last 20 editions.
How to Prepare, Whatever September Delivers
Check the forecast 48 hours out, then commit race morning. Berlin's weather is more stable than Boston's or Chicago's, which makes the exceptions (2025's heat, 2010's rain) hit harder because they're unexpected. Don't assume "usually fine" applies to your specific race day.
Lay out two gear plans the night before. A cool-weather kit (arm sleeves, light gloves, a cap with a brim) and a warm-weather kit (singlet, sunscreen, extra electrolytes) covers the realistic range. Decide which one you're wearing when you step outside, not before. Our race day gear guide breaks down exactly what to wear at every temperature.
Budget for a cold, shelterless wait in the Tiergarten. The start village has no covered areas, and you'll be standing for 1–2 hours before your wave goes off. September mornings run 8–14°C (46–57°F). Bring throwaway layers you're fine leaving behind. They're collected and donated.
Run the exposed sections by effort, not by fighting the wind. If it's breezy on race day, expect it to show up on Karl-Marx-Allee and the Oberbaumbrücke bridge specifically, not evenly across the whole course. A gust on the bridge doesn't mean the next 20 km will be a headwind. Ease off through it and let the loop hand the advantage back.
If it's warm, hydrate like 2025 taught the field to. Heat at Berlin isn't common, but when it shows up, it's not gentle either. Pre-loading electrolytes and taking every aid station seriously matters more here than the course's flat reputation might suggest.
Respect the cobblestones in the final 2 km, especially if it's rained. The stretch through Gendarmenmarkt and Unter den Linden toward the Brandenburg Gate arrives when your legs are least able to compensate for an unstable surface. Standard road shoes handle it fine dry. Wet cobblestones after a rainy morning are a different story, so shorten your stride slightly and watch your footing rather than chasing a fast final split blind.
More Berlin Marathon Guides
- Berlin Marathon Course Strategy: Mile-by-mile breakdown from the Tiergarten to the Brandenburg Gate.
- Berlin Marathon Packing List: What to bring for the bag drop, the corral wait, and every weather scenario.
- Berlin Marathon Weather Forecast: Live conditions, weather-adjusted pacing, and course analysis.
- Race Pacing Guide: How wind, grade, and weather should change your pace, mile by mile.
- Race Day Gear Guide: Build a temperature-based gear plan for whatever race morning delivers.