Elite Marathoners Run Faster With Increasing Temperatures in Berlin Marathon

Abstract

The influence of environmental conditions has been investigated for different marathon races, but not for the Berlin Marathon, the fastest marathon race course in the world. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential influence of environmental conditions such as temperature, precipitation, sunshine, and atmospheric pressure on marathon race times in the Berlin Marathon since its first event in 1974–2019. A total of n = 882,540 valid finisher records were available for analysis, of which 724,135 correspond to male and 158,405 to female runners. We performed analyses regarding performance levels considering all finishers, the top 3, the top 10, and the top 100 women and men. Within the 46 years of Berlin marathons under study, there was some level of precipitation for 18 years, and 28 years without any rain. Sunshine was predominant in 25 of the events, whilst in the other 21, cloud cover was predominant. There was no significant trend with time in any of the weather variables (e.g., no increase in temperature across the years). Overall runners became slower with increasing temperature and sunshine duration, however, elite runners (i.e., top 3 and top 10) seemed to run faster and improved their race times when the temperature increased (with women improving more than men). Top 10 women seemed to benefit more from increasing temperatures than top 10 males, and male top 100 runners seemed to benefit more from increasing temperatures than female top 100 runners. In the top three sub-group, no differences were observed between male and female correlations. In summary, in marathoners competing in the Berlin Marathon between 1974 and 2019, increasing temperatures and sunshine duration showed a different effect on different performance levels where overall runners (i.e., the general mass of runners) became slower with increasing temperature and sunshine duration, but elite runners (i.e., top 3, top 10) became faster with increasing temperatures where sex differences exist.

The Influence of Environmental Conditions on Pacing in Age Group Marathoners Competing in the “New York City Marathon”

“…This influence was, however, dependent upon the age where we found a weak but statistically significant correlation in athletes of age groups 20–59 years. Despite the weak relationship among the temperature and running speed, the influence of higher temperatures on slower runners has been described in several studies ( Ely et al, 2007 ; Ely et al, 2008 ; Vihma, 2010 ; El Helou et al, 2012 ; Nikolaidis et al, 2019 ; Knechtle et al, 2021 ; Knechtle et al, 2021 ). Factors associated with these results are most probably due to the slower running speed from start to finish of the slower runners rather than the decline in running speed (positive pacing) of faster runners ( Ely, Martin et al, 2008 ).…”

“…Also, the influence was pronounced for middle-aged runners where high temperatures had an increased effect on race times in 30–64 years old men and 40–64 years old women ( Knechtle et al, 2021 ). Interestingly, elite marathoners (world record runners, top three and top ten finishers) improved performance with increasing temperature ( Knechtle et al, 2021 ; Knechtle et al, 2021 ), what can be associated with better acclimatization for heat environment.…”

“…In this sense, runners’ profile, performance predictors related individual, and environment have been studied ( Nikolaidis et al, 2018 ; Knechtle et al, 2021 ). It is well-known that environmental conditions have a strong influence on marathon running performance ( Trapasso and Cooper, 1989 ; Zhang et al, 1992 ; Ely et al, 2007 ; Vihma, 2010 ; El Helou et al, 2012 ; Knechtle et al, 2021 ; Mantzios et al, 2021 ; Trubee et al, 2014 ; Ely et al, 2008 ). These influences have been investigated in different large city marathons such as the “Boston Marathon” ( Roberts, 2007 ; El Helou et al, 2012 ; Knechtle et al, 2019 ; Nikolaidis et al, 2019 ; Trapasso and Cooper, 1989 ), the “Chicago Marathon” ( El Helou et al, 2012 ; Trubee et al, 2014 ), the “New York City Marathon” ( El Helou et al, 2012 ; Gasparetto et al, 2020 ; Knechtle et al, 2021 ), the “Berlin Marathon” ( El Helou et al, 2012 ; Knechtle et al, 2021 ; Knechtle et al, 2021 ; Scheer et al, 2021 ), the “Stockholm Marathon” ( Vihma, 2010 ), the “London Marathon” ( El Helou et al, 2012 ), the “Beijing Marathon” ( Zhang et al, 1992 ), and the “Paris Marathon” ( El Helou et al, 2012 ).…”

Relationship between running performance and weather in elite marathoners competing in the New York City Marathon

“…We could not confirm our hypothesis that the fastest runners would slow down with increasing temperature since the running speed increased with increasing humidity and sunshine duration for the top 3 and top 10 runners. A study investigating marathoners of different performance levels competing in the 'Berlin Marathon' between 1974 and 2019 showed that elite runners (i.e., top 3 and top 10 runners) became faster with increasing temperatures 26 . The most likely explanation here is that the temperature variation within the first 2 or 3 h of each event is very small.…”

Impact of a Cold Environment on the Performance of Professional Cyclists: A Pilot Study

“…Among the factors considered, some authors [5][6][7][8][9] have hypothesized that environmental factors such as temperature, solar radiation, environment, air velocity with the Wind Chill Index (WCI) or humidity can influence the level standard of performance in endurance sports such as cycling, triathlon, or running [8]. Indeed, these endurance sports sometimes take place in snow, rain, at negative temperatures or at average temperatures above 35 • C. Recent studies underline this [6,[10][11][12].…”