Australian Wins a New Unified Berlin Marathon

Australia’s Steve Moneghetti won Sunday’s Berlin Marathon, the first held in both sides of a divided city that in three days becomes capital of a united Germany.

Moneghetti beat a marathon-record field of 25,000 in 2 hours 8 minutes 16 seconds, the fastest time in the world this year.

Crowd favorite Uta Pippig, an East German who moved to West Germany in January, was the first women’s finisher in 2:28:37.

Gidamis Shahanga of Tanzania finished second in 2:08:32, followed by East Germans Joerg Peter (2:09:23) and Stephan Freigang (2:09:45), and Finland’s Harri Haenninen at 2:12:40.