Abstract
The “Berlin Marathon” is the fastest marathon racecourse in the world and has witnessed 11 world records (WRs; eight in men and three in women). Weather conditions can have an important impact on race time and we therefore examined the influence of environmental conditions (i.e., temperature, sunshine, precipitation, barometric pressure, and cloud cover) on WRs and elite (i.e., winner, top three and top 10 finishers) marathon performances of men and women at the “Berlin Marathon” between 1974 and 2019. Average world record marathon times in men were 2:03:52 ± 0:01:19 h:min:s and 2:25:05 ± 0:08:25 h:min:s in females (p < 0.05). Male competitions were held 44 times (mean winning time: 2:09:48 ± 0:09:15 h:min:s) and female competitions 41 times (mean winning time: 02:30:35 ± 0:19:09 h:min:s; p < 0.05). World record performances were set at mean temperatures of 18.61 ± 2.59°C for men and 13.07 ± 4.01°C for women (p > 0.05). The ideal environmental conditions for world record performances for men were temperatures of 18.61°C (p > 0.05), sunny, mostly dry days, with higher atmospheric pressure and little cloud cover (all p > 0.05). In women, ideal conditions for world records performances were temperatures of 13.07°C (p > 0.05), with low atmospheric pressure (p > 0.05), but significantly more rain (p < 0.05), and with no sunshine (p < 0.05) and cloud cover (p < 0.05). With elite performances, the ideal temperatures were of 17.36 ± 4.33°C for men and 17.93 ± 4.07°C for women (p > 0.05), with little to no rain, and moderate cloud cover and sunshine (p > 0.05). In summary, novel findings are, that environmental conditions in world records performances differ between men and women, with women obtaining world records in bad weather (with rain, cloud cover, and no sunshine) and men in good weather (sunny, mostly dry days, with little cloud cover). Larger sample sizes are needed to examine sex differences and environmental conditions on world record marathon performances.
Highlights
Marathon running is the longest endurance running discipline in athletics and the Olympics
We hypothesized that temperatures of ~10–12°C would be the optimum temperature for both women and men to achieve a world record and elite performance in the “Berlin Marathon” and that fast marathon times were achieved in sunny weather, with little cloud cover and precipitation
Female world record-breaking performances occurred in bad weather compared to males
Summary
Marathon running (distance of 42.195 km) is the longest endurance running discipline in athletics and the Olympics. Performance aspects are well researched in marathon running, especially the physiological determinants, genetics, training, nutritional, technology and logistical aspects (Joyner, 1991; Larsen, 2003; Jones et al, 2020; Joyner et al, 2020), as well as the importance of optimal pacing strategies (Angus, 2014, 2019; Nikolaidis and Knechtle, 2018) External determinants, such as environmental conditions, like ambient temperature, wind, cloud cover, barometric pressure, and precipitations are important and can have an important impact on marathon performance (Montain et al, 2007; Ely et al, 2008; Knechtle et al, 2019). It has been shown among the World Marathon Major races (i.e., Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago, and New York), that weather conditions have important effects on race times and they may be more important than race profile (Maffetone et al, 2017)
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