SINGAPORE, Oct. 9 -- A fitness influencer claimed her personal best marathon performance at the Berlin Marathon on Sept 27 - until she was photographed in the backseat of a bicycle near the finish line.

Chinese runner Sun Yuanyuan, who goes by the moniker Abeeeer on social media platform Xiaohongshu, apologised following an online expose.

Sun, who has over 500,000 followers on Xiaohongshu, has also been dropped by her sponsor, running shoe brand Brookes.

She joined the event under its sponsorship.

According to a social media post showing her race results, Sun completed the 42.2km route in a time of four hours, 53 minutes and 46 seconds.

The Berlin Marathon website currently states her status as "disqualified".

Her bluff was called b...