A Chinese fitness influencer has been dropped by her sponsor after she apologised for riding a bicycle during the Berlin marathon.
Sun Yuanyuan, known as Abeeeer on Chinese social media, had claimed a personal best during the event which was held in September.
But an Instagram page dedicated to monitoring inaccurate or misleading race times posted by influencers published a picture which appeared to show Sun on a bicycle between the 35km and and 40km marks.
Sun apologised and admitted to “breaking the rules”. Brooks, the running shoe company, has ended its sponsorship deal with her and her finish time has been disqualified by the marathon organisers.
An Instagram account calling itself the Official Marathon Time Integrity Unit (OMTIU) posted a photo of Sun apparently on the back of a bike being ridden by another person during the marathon.
The page also posted a grid of Sun’s “splits” – which are the times taken to complete different 5km segments of the race.
The grid appears to show that she sped up between the 35 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 “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 set up to highlight “the growing trend of GPS-based fabrication, selective Strava displays and false PR claims” among marathon runners, particularly fitness influencers. Strava is a fitness tracking app.
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.”
Its Instagram bio describes it as “satire”.
BBC News has contacted the Berlin Marathon for comment.
