PB to DQ! Chinese fitness influencer exposed after riding a bike during Berlin Marathon

Chinese runner Sun Yuanyuan, moniker Abeeeer, was photographed on the back of a bicycle while running the Berlin Marathon. — AsiaOne pic

First Published: Friday, 09 Oct 2026 10:58 AM MYT

SINGAPORE, Oct 9 — A fitness influencer claimed her personal best marathon performance at the Berlin Marathon on Sept 27 — until she was photographed in the backseat of a bicycle near the finish line.

Chinese runner Sun Yuanyuan, who goes by the moniker Abeeeer on social media platform Xiaohongshu, apologised following an online expose.

Sun, who has over 500,000 followers on Xiaohongshu, has also been dropped by her sponsor, running shoe brand Brookes.

She joined the event under its sponsorship.

According to a social media post showing her race results, Sun completed the 42.2km route in a time of four hours, 53 minutes and 46 seconds.

The Berlin Marathon website currently states her status as “disqualified”.

Her bluff was called by an Instagram page known as Official Marathon Time Integrity Unit in a series of Instagram stories on October 2.

The account, which says it seeks to preserve integrity by calling out time discrepancies, shared a picture showing Sun sitting sideways on a bicycle and looking at her watch.

“Evidence of an athlete allegedly hitching a ride from the 38km mark to the finish line to collect their medal,” they wrote.

The account also claimed that Sun clocked her fastest pace during that 5km segment, when she was riding the bicycle.

The influencer subsequently issued a public apology for cheating, while also deleting her previous posts on the race from her Xiaohongshu page.

“My action of riding a bicycle at the Berlin Marathon indeed violated race rules. I won’t make any excuses,” she wrote.

“Even if I had felt unwell during the course, it is absolutely not an excuse for breaking the rules.”

Sun also admitted that she had been dishonest when she shared her race achievement online and said she is reflecting deeply on the incident.

Meanwhile, Brooks China said in a statement that it had verified Sun’s results and related digital materials provided with her after the race, but did not conduct a full and detailed review of the race process, especially segment timings.

The brand also apologised saying that it will learn from the incident and exercise more caution in the future when partnering with influencers. — AsiaOne