Yuanyuan Sun

Introduction

Yuanyuan Sun is a Chinese fitness influencer with roughly 520,000 followers on RedNote, the Chinese social platform also known as Xiaohongshu, where she posts under the handle Abeeeer and regularly publishes running videos. In October 2026 she was disqualified from the Berlin Marathon after race-integrity watchdogs published a photo of her hitching a ride on the back of a bicycle during the September 27 race — conduct she admitted in a public apology, writing that her “behavior to take a shortcut was disrespectful to the spirit of the marathon.” The fallout cost her finishing time, her personal best, and a sponsorship: Brooks China terminated its relationship with her days after the images surfaced.

Background Information

Sun had been building a public profile as a recreational runner. A May 2026 RedNote post after she ran the Lanzhou marathon said she planned to race in Chicago as well as Berlin in the fall, according to The Athletic. The Berlin Marathon, one of the six Abbott World Marathon Majors, is known as the flattest and fastest of the series: more than 56,000 runners from 162 countries entered the 2026 edition, and about 50,000 crossed the finish line. Sun finished the September 27 race in 4:53:46 — a time she described on social media as a personal best — and afterward posed for photos wearing her medal.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Admitted conduct, not a legal case. This is not a criminal or civil matter: the conduct below was documented in race photography and split data, was admitted by Sun herself in a public apology, and was penalized by the race organizer and a private sponsor through disqualification and termination. No legal adjudication is involved, and none is claimed.

Sun was photographed sitting on the back of a moving bicycle during the final kilometers of the Berlin Marathon, wearing her race bib and Brooks running kit. A fellow marathoner took the photo and sent it to the Official Marathon Time Integrity Unit (OMTIU), an Instagram watchdog account established in late 2025 that says it exists to “protect the integrity of the marathon.” In posts from October 1, OMTIU published the image alongside Sun’s split data, noting that her fastest 5-kilometer segment of the race came between the 35- and 40-kilometer marks — “around the time she was spotted on the back of a bike,” and roughly six minutes quicker than the segment before it. The bib number visible in the images was registered to Sun.

By Wednesday morning, October 7, Sun’s official race results showed she had been disqualified, with her 4:53:46 time struck from the results list. A Berlin Marathon spokesperson told CBC the organization does “not comment publicly on individual persons or specific measures,” but said that in cases of proven fraud it contacts the individual and disqualifies them, and that “following a thorough review of each individual case, we decide on appropriate measures and, where necessary, impose further sanctions.”

On the Saturday after the race, Sun posted a “sincere apology” to her 520,000 RedNote followers. “Riding a bicycle during the Berlin Marathon did indeed violate race rules,” she wrote in Chinese, per The Athletic’s translation. “Even if I felt unwell on the course, it should never be a reason for me to break the rules.” “My behaviour to take a shortcut was disrespectful to the spirit of the marathon,” her statement continued, per CBC. “I intentionally concealed this fact during my public sharing after the race. That was a truly dishonest behaviour.” She explained she had been feeling physically unwell during the race but acknowledged that was not an excuse. According to CBC, multiple outlets reported she had previously posted about earning a personal best, and has since deleted her Berlin Marathon posts other than the apology.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The exposure came entirely from crowdsourced scrutiny: a runner who spotted her, a watchdog account that cross-referenced the photo against official split data, and an international press cycle within a week. OMTIU’s posts said its accounts described “evidence of an athlete allegedly hitching a ride from the 38km mark to the finish line to collect their medal,” amid what it called countless stories of course-cutting at the Berlin event. The most immediate commercial consequence came from Brooks: the brand told CBC that after it became “aware of the situation involving a Brooks China collaborator and the 2026 Berlin Marathon,” it verified the facts and “terminated its relationship with the individual,” adding that “Brooks believes running should be grounded in integrity, fairness, and respect for competition.” A Brooks spokesperson told The Athletic the company “immediately terminated its relationship with the influencer and publicly reaffirmed the brand’s commitment to integrity, fairness, and the spirit of running.”

Commentary placed Sun in a long line of marathon fraud: from Rosie Ruiz, who was stripped of her 1980 Boston Marathon title after riding the subway and joining the course for the final mile, to the Mexico City Marathon’s disqualification of some 11,000 course-cutters in 2023. The Verge framed the episode as the latest in a string of influencer missteps with the brands that pay them, “following a disastrous golf ad and the shenanigans at the US Open,” noting that Sun admitted she “did indeed violate race rules” and wore Brooks China gear during the event.

Current Status

Sun’s disqualification stands on the official Berlin Marathon results as of October 7, 2026, and her personal best has been struck from the record. She has not posted about the race since, beyond the apology; her Berlin Marathon content has been deleted from RedNote. Brooks China’s termination of the sponsorship has not been reversed, and no further sanctions from the race organizer had been announced in the coverage fetched for this page. The Athletic reported she had planned to run the Chicago Marathon the Sunday after Berlin; no report says whether she did, or how her plans changed after the disqualification.

Impact on Their Career/Life

For an influencer whose brand is fitness credibility, the disqualification removed the exact content that anchored it: her Berlin personal best no longer exists in any official record, the race photos are gone from her own accounts, and the episode is now the first thing her name surfaces alongside in international coverage. The Brooks China relationship — kit and shoes she wore on race day — ended within days, and the apology that remains pinned on her feed is an admission that she concealed the shortcut from the followers who make her sponsored-runner business possible. She has not, per fetched reporting, faced any legal consequence; the damage is reputational and commercial, in an industry where sponsors have repeatedly shown they move faster than race organizers.

Sources

• New York Post, “Fitness influencer busted riding bike during Berlin Marathon,” Oct. 7, 2026 — source
• CBC News, “Fitness influencer apologizes after hitching a bike ride in the Berlin Marathon,” Oct. 7, 2026 — source
• The Athletic (New York Times), “Fitness influencer disqualified from Berlin Marathon after hitching ride on bike,” Oct. 7, 2026 — source
• The Verge, “A Chinese fitness influencer was disqualified for riding a bike during the Berlin Marathon,” Oct. 7, 2026 — source