Chinese Influencer Loses Shoe Sponsorship After Admitting She Cheated at Berlin Marathon

A Chinese fitness influencer has been stripped of her sponsorship and disqualified from the Berlin Marathon after admitting she rode a bicycle for part of the race, a revelation that has reignited debate about honesty and accountability among social media running stars.

Sun Yuanyuan, who goes by the handle Abeeeer on Chinese platforms and commands an audience of roughly 520,000 followers on Rednote, had publicly celebrated a personal best at the German event, which took place in late September. That celebration unravelled after a monitoring account dedicated to exposing misleading race results published evidence appearing to place her on a bike during a crucial stretch of the course.

The fallout has been swift. Brooks, the running shoe brand that had backed Sun, confirmed to the BBC that it had severed ties with her. Marathon organisers have also annulled her finishing time, formally erasing the result she had promoted to her followers.

At the centre of the controversy is a photograph circulated by an account calling itself the Official Marathon Time Integrity Unit (OMTIU). The image appears to show Sun seated on the back of a bicycle being pedalled by someone else, captured somewhere between the 35km and 40km marks of the 42.2km race.

The post did not rely on imagery alone. OMTIU also published a grid breaking down Sun's split times, the intervals recorded for each five-kilometre segment of the marathon. According to that data, her pace accelerated noticeably between the 35km and 40km checkpoints, precisely the section where the photograph allegedly places her on the bike rather than on foot.

Confronted with the evidence, Sun issued a public apology on Rednote, which OMTIU subsequently shared. In the statement, she acknowledged violating the rules and offered no defence for her conduct. She explained that she had felt physically unwell during the race but stressed that this did not justify her actions. In her words, the illness could not excuse what she described as breaking the rules.

She went further, admitting that her decision to take a shortcut showed a lack of respect for competitive fairness and for the spirit of the marathon. Sun also confessed that she had deliberately hidden what she had done, saying she felt deeply guilty about the deception. The admission marked a stark reversal from the celebratory posts that had followed her original finish.

Brooks moved quickly once the facts were established. In a statement provided to the BBC, the company said it believes running should be rooted in integrity, fairness and respect for competition. It confirmed that after verifying the situation, Brooks China ended its relationship with Sun and addressed the matter publicly. The termination of the sponsorship is a significant blow, given how central brand partnerships are to the careers of fitness influencers.

The Berlin Marathon itself has not yet responded publicly. BBC News has contacted the organisers for comment, leaving questions about whether any further sanctions or reviews of race procedures might follow.

Much of the scrutiny in this case stems from OMTIU, a page whose stated purpose is to highlight what it calls a growing trend of fabricating GPS data, selectively displaying activity on the fitness tracking app Strava, and making false personal-best claims. Its mission statement says it exists to protect the integrity of the sport by ensuring the times athletes publicly share reflect the times they actually ran. Notably, the account also describes itself in its Instagram bio as satire, a detail that cuts both ways in a case now corroborated by an admission and a sponsor's decision.

The episode sits within a wider conversation about how fitness content is produced and monetised. Influencers often build credibility on race results and training data, and audiences increasingly treat those numbers as proof of authenticity. When verified results diverge from promoted ones, the consequences can extend beyond a single event, touching sponsors, followers and the broader running community.

In Sun's case, the combination of an apparent photograph, anomalous splits and a personal confession made the outcome difficult to dispute. The disqualification removes her result from official records, while the lost sponsorship removes the commercial reward that often accompanies a standout performance.

What remains unresolved is how common such incidents are and whether monitoring efforts like OMTIU will prompt races or platforms to tighten verification. For now, the case stands as an unusually clear example of a celebrated athletic claim collapsing under scrutiny, and of a public figure acknowledging that the shortcut she took was disrespectful to the fairness of competition and the spirit of the marathon.