A Chinese fitness influencer has been dropped by her sponsor after she apologised for driving a bicycle during the Berlin marathon.
Sun Yuanyuan, identified as Abeeeer on Chinese social media, had claimed a personal best during the occasion which was held in September.
But an Instagram web page devoted to monitoring inaccurate or deceptive race occasions posted by influencers printed a image 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 working shoe company, has ended its sponsorship deal with her and her end time has been disqualified by the marathon organisers.
An Instagram account calling itself the Official Marathon Time Integrity Unit (OMTIU) posted a picture of Sun apparently on the back of a bike being ridden by another particular person during the marathon.
The web page also posted a grid of Sun’s “splits” – which are the occasions taken to full completely different 5km segments of the race.
The grid seems 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 damaged the guidelines.
She wrote: “I won’t make any excuses for this behaviour.
“I was feeling bodily unwell on the course, [but] that is completely not an excuse for breaking the guidelines.
“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, including: “I feel deeply guilty about this.”
Brooks confirmed to BBC News that it had dropped Sun.
A company assertion said: “Brooks believes running should be grounded in integrity, fairness, and respect for competition.
“After verifying the info, Brooks China terminated its relationship with the particular person and publicly addressed the matter.”
OMTIU was set up to spotlight “the growing development of GPS-based fabrication, selective Strava shows 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 shield the integrity of the sport by making certain that the occasions athletes share publicly mirror the occasions they truly ran.”
Its Instagram bio describes it as “satire”.
BBC News has contacted the Berlin Marathon for remark.
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