The roads of Berlin have been relentlessly kind to Manuela Schär.
The Swiss AbbottWMM Series champion has won the last five marathons in the city.
In 2018 she set a new world record here and in 2019 amassed an unprecedented tally of nine consecutive AbbottWMM victories. Later that year Schär broke her own record in Oita, her 10th marathon win in a row.
Even the pandemic did not deny her a third straight AbbottWMM Series crown, as the series was strung out over two years before she finally got her hands on the silverware in New York last fall.
2022 has brought a different set of challenges for the 38-year-old.
She did not travel to Tokyo for the Series XIV curtain-raiser, but made her mark in Boston in April with a devastating performance.
Her summer has been interrupted by an innocuous broken leg, which casts some doubt over how she will shape up in Berlin.
"I love this race," said Schär. "I love the crowds, the atmosphere. I'm just delighted to be in my racing chair again and focused on what I can achieve."
The presence of Paralympic champion Madison de Rozario will provide a tough examination of Schär’s preparation.
The Australian pipped Schär to gold in Tokyo in 2021 and dominated the field including Schär and Tatyana McFadden in New York City at the end of last year.
"It's an incredible experience to be a part of here," said de Rozario. "I'm really looking forward to it. I'll look to stay with a good group and see how things go."
Susannah Scaroni has also been pushing strongly this year and has broken records on the track, while youngster Merle Menje has made an impressive entry to the marathon scene and will be in the mix with the leading contenders.
The curious parallel to Schär’s 2018 history-making performance here is that it was accomplished on the same day as Eliud Kipchoge’s world record in the same city. This is the first time both athletes are competing in Berlin since that sun-soaked morning.
The Kenyan’s feat stole the headlines, but the era of Schär’s unbeaten streak also began that day, and no one has come close to matching that run of results since.
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