Company Run Team UP Runners

The University of Potsdam’s running team, the ‘UP Runners’, once again proved unbeatable at the IKK BB Company Run on 19 May 2026: with a total of 368 participants, Brandenburg’s largest university once again fielded the largest team – a new record! With 24 more participants than the previous year, the University of Potsdam defended its title as the “most athletic company” with the highest number of runners. The “UP Runners” also delivered outstanding performances: the university’s athletes secured a total of three top podium places. Led by Franziska Bernhard, who triumphed in the women’s individual classification, the UP won the team competitions in the mixed and women’s categories. The men’s team also finished in an excellent 6th place. The competition for the largest internal university team, organised by University Sports, was won by the Potsdam Graduate School, which fielded 28 runners, making it a team event.

Just in time for the company run, the weather was at its best, welcoming the 368 UP Runners and a total of almost 7,000 participants from Potsdam and the surrounding area to this year’s IKK BB Potsdam Company Run against the picturesque backdrop of the Sanssouci World Heritage Park. After a team photo in the colonnade, a first-time meet-up to get to know one another and a joint warm-up, the race began: from the Mopke along Eichenallee, Ribbeckstraße and An der Orangerie to the Historic Mill, and from there back along Maulbeerallee, before the runners were led past the New Palace along Lindstedter Weg for the final kilometre.
Once again, the “UP Runners” proved not only numerous but also high-performing: Franziska Bernhard crossed the finish line as the first woman after just 18 minutes and 14 seconds. The fastest UP runner, Tobias Schatz, finished 37th in the men’s rankings after 18 minutes and 38 seconds. Franziska Bernhard also celebrated victories in two relay events alongside her teammates: in the women’s relay with Verona Jaron, Josie König and Ludovica Crosato Menegazzi – finishing more than three minutes ahead of the second-placed team – and in the mixed relay with Daniel Gnädig, Verona Jaron and Tobias Schatz. The men’s team, comprising Tim Dietrich, Daniel Gnädig, Ronen Pinkas and Tobias Schatz, finished in sixth place.

The results in detail:
1st place in the mixed team category (Franziska Bernhard, Daniel Gnädig, Verona Jaron, Tobias Schatz) with a time of 1:15:58
1st place in the women’s team category (Franziska Bernhard, Verona Jaron, Josie König, Ludovica Crosato Menegazzi) with a time of 1:23:16
6th place in the men’s team category (Tim Dietrich, Daniel Gnädig, Ronen Pinkas, Tobias Schatz) with a time of 1:16:24
1st place in the women’s individual classification: Franziska Bernhard with a time of 18:14
37th place in the men’s individual classification: Tobias Schatz with a time of 18:38
1st place in the ‘most athletic company’ category with the most runners (368 UP Runners)

For the rankings, the four fastest runners in each category are added together; in the mixed team category, this naturally means the two fastest men and two fastest women. All results can be viewed at: www.davengo.com/event/result/ikk-bb-firmenlauf-potsdam-2026
The UP team was organised and supported by the University Sports Association, with assistance from the Workplace Health Management team, which covered the entry fees. Refreshments for the runners were provided by the Association for the Promotion of University Sports (Verein zur Förderung des Hochschulsports e.V.). The event culminated – for the ‘UP Runners’ – in a race number raffle, for which the University Chancellor, Hendrik Woithe, took on the role of the raffle host and drew the race numbers of the lucky winners. The PoGS running team can look forward to a team event organised by University Sports, having won the internal competition for the largest team. A total of 28 runners took part for PoGS.