Press Release - Berlin Marathon - 4/28/23

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
	
                             BMW Berlin-Marathon: 

                    Christoph Kopp passed away in Berlin

Christoph Kopp, the most influential, experienced and accepted road running 
official and manager in German speaking territory, passed away at the age 
of 75 on Friday in his hometown Berlin after a short severe illness. 
Christoph Kopp was one of the nicest and most reliable people you could 
meet in life, always ready to help. 

A former sprinter and decathlete, he worked as a coach and later became 
head of athletics at the renowned club SCC Berlin. When city marathon 
developed in the early eighties in Europe Christoph Kopp became the 
voluntary Sporting Director of the Berlin-Marathon and the general manager. 
He developed the event to a high-class international race and established 
connections of which the Berlin Marathon still benefits today. 

Additionally Christoph Kopp was the President of the Berlin Athletics 
Federation between 1999 and 2004 and was much involved in Berlin's bids for 
the World Championships, which the city then staged in 2009. 

As an elite field coordinator he was the one who developed the Berlin 
Marathon into one of the world's leading races. And he did the same with 
the Frankfurt Marathon and the Berlin 25 k race. It was in Frankfurt in 
2011 where Wilson Kipsang missed the world record by just four seconds. In 
partnership with the former ISTAF Meeting Director Gerhard Janetzky, 
Christoph Kopp organised the Berlin 25k race for a number of years. In 2010 
he put together a 25k field that produced something unique: It was the 
first time ever that both world records were broken in one road race at the 
same time. Recently he also worked for marathons in Hannover, Linz and 
Munich as well as road races in Paderborn, Berlin, Würzburg and Dresden.  

In 2020 it was Christoph Kopp and his International SportService (ISS) Team 
who organised the first elite races during the Corona Pandemic in Germany 
and one of the first worldwide. He was then involved in most other German 
races during the lockdown. Christoph Kopp always had the courage to try 
something that seemed not possible. 

Christoph Kopp additionally managed a large number of German top marathon 
and road runners but also international athletes with his team at Berlin's 
ISS. His International SportService will now be continued by his son 
Philipp Kopp and his long-term employee Sandra Wolter. 
                                 
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