Chinese runner dropped by sponsor after riding bike during marathon
Sun Yuanyuan was seemingly pictured on the back of another person's bike during part of the Berlin Marathon.
**Chinese runner dropped by sponsor after riding bike during marathon**
A Chinese fitness influencer has lost her sponsor after apologising for riding a bicycle during the Berlin marathon.
Sun Yuanyuan, who is known as Abeeeer on Chinese social media, had said she achieved a personal best in the event, which took place in September.
However, an Instagram page that tracks inaccurate or misleading race times posted by influencers shared a photo that appeared to show Sun on a bicycle between the 35km and 40km marks.
Sun later apologised and admitted to “breaking the rules”. Brooks, the running shoe company, has ended its sponsorship agreement with her, and marathon organisers have disqualified her finish time.
An Instagram account calling itself the Official Marathon Time Integrity Unit (OMTIU) posted a picture of Sun apparently riding on the back of a bike being operated by another person during the marathon.
The account also shared a grid of Sun’s “splits” — the times recorded for each 5km section of the race.
That grid appears to indicate that she got faster between the 35km and 40km marks, when she was allegedly on the bike.
Sun posted an apology on the Chinese social media platform Rednote, which was shared by OMTIU, admitting that she had broken the rules.
She wrote: “I won't make any excuses for this behaviour.
“I was feeling physically unwell on the course, [but] that is absolutely not an excuse for breaking the rules.
“My attempt to take a shortcut was disrespectful to the fairness of the competition and the spirit of the marathon.”
Sun, who has 520,000 followers on Rednote, also said she had “deliberately concealed” her actions, adding: “I feel deeply guilty about this.”
Brooks confirmed to BBC News that it had dropped Sun.
A company statement said: “Brooks believes running should be grounded in integrity, fairness, and respect for competition.
“After verifying the facts, Brooks China terminated its relationship with the individual and publicly addressed the matter.”
OMTIU was created to draw attention to “the growing trend of GPS-based fabrication, selective Strava displays and false PR claims” among marathon runners, especially fitness influencers.
The page’s mission statement says: “We exist to protect the integrity of the sport by ensuring that the times athletes share publicly reflect the times they actually ran.”