The Kenyan became the first person to run a two-hour marathon in London.
Sebastian Save, who set a world record time of 1:59:30 to win the London Marathon last month, will defend his title in Berlin (September 27).
In a record-breaking race in the British capital, Soi became the first person to legally run a sub-two-hour marathon.
The men’s field was so strong that Yomif Kejelcha (1:59:41) and Jacob Kiplimo (2:00:28) both broke the late Kevlin Kiptum’s previous world record of 2:00:35.
Soye returns to Berlin after his 2:02:16 victory last year, which was recorded in hotter than usual conditions with temperatures reaching up to 25C.
“After my victory in London and my nearly two-hour speech, I can only say that I will, as always, prepare as well as possible, come to Berlin to honor this great event and the organization that invited me, and I will aim to run as well and as quickly as I can,” he said.
Berlin is considered one of the fastest marathons in the world, with eight consecutive world records, from Paul Tergat’s 2:04:55 to Eliud Kipchoge’s 2:01:09, set between 2003 and 2019.
Kipchoge’s 2:01:39 from 2018 and Kenenisa Bekele’s 2:01:41 from 2019, both set in Berlin, are also the seventh and ninth fastest ever.
Soje will be hoping to close in on his world record of 1:59:30 in the German capital and continue his 100% record in marathons.
The Kenyan ran his first marathon in Valencia two years ago and won in 2:02:05, the second fastest debut over 26.2 miles after Kiptum’s 2:01:53 (Valencia 2022).
Soi followed that up with wins in London (2:02:27) and Berlin (2:02:16) last year, ahead of his two-hour best last month.
After crossing the halfway mark in 60:29, Soi turned in a much faster second half of 59:01 and ran splits of 13:54 and 13:42 for her final two 5km segments.
Soi wore the new one during her run in London Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3known for being light as a banana and the first shoe to weigh under 100g (97g).
