Press Release - Vienna City Marathon - 4/16/09

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    Günther Weidlinger Ready For His Marathon Debut In Vienna

Günther Weidlinger is ready for the final challenge of his career: the 
marathon. The 31 year-old Austrian will run his debut at the classic 
distance this Sunday at the Vienna City Marathon. While the former 
world-class steeplechaser will opt for a careful and controlled approach he 
none the less targets a record. The national marathon best stands at 
2:12:22. This mark was set in Vienna by Gerhard Hartmann back in 1986. If 
Günther Weidlinger should succeed he will become the first runner in 
Austrian athletics history to hold all the major national long distance 
records from the steeple upwards to the 42.195 k. 

"Of course there is quite some pressure because of this record. The 
expectations in Austria are really high regarding this," explains Günther 
Weidlinger. "But there was no way that I could have avoided it. Noone would 
have believed me if I had said I just wanted to run 2:15. Even now 
journalists ask again and again if I am not trageting a time of around 
2:10." But for Sunday this faster time will not be on schedule for Günther 
Weidlinger. "If I could break the Austrian record at my debut that would be 
perfect. Regarding my future marathon career I certainly hope that one day 
my name will appear in the top lists with a time of below 2:10."

"I have trained really well and actually I liked the training despite the 
high milage," says Günther Weidlinger. "May be I should have turned to the 
marathon two years earlier and then should have run in the event in the 
Olympics in Beijing. But on the other hand I achieved an Austrian record in 
the 10,000 metres last year." Günther Weidlinger, who is coached by his 
father Heinrich, covered about 4,400 kilometres of training in his six and 
a half months built-up for the Vienna City Marathon. His maximum milage per 
week was 225 k and his longest run was 37 k. These are pretty good marks 
for a debutant. At the Prague Half Marathon in March Günther Weidlinger had 
a good test race which he finished in 63:26 minutes without maximum effort.

"I am not afraid of the marathon, but I have respect. If I would be afraid 
then I would not run well," said Günther Weidlinger, who believes that in 
theory he could still run very well in the steeple as well. "I think a sub 
8:15 would be possible. But this chapter was finished after running in the 
World Athletics Final in 2007," said the Austrian record holder (8:10.83), 
who had placed eighth in the Olympic final in 2000 and then horribly 
thrashed his face at a barrier in the Osaka World Championships in 2007.

No matter what his result will be on Sunday Günther Weidlinger does not 
plan to run the marathon at the World Championships in Berlin in August. 
"Starting this marathon in the summer at 11 am is crazy. They could well 
end-up with a temperature of 30 degrees Celsius at the start and 35 when 
they finish." Should he decide to run the 10,000 m at the World 
Championships the Frankfurt Marathon in late October might be his option in 
autumn. Günther Weidlinger is already signed for the Vienna City Marathon 
2010. 

One of the two Kenyan pacemakers on Sunday, who are supposed to guide the 
Austrian crowd favourite through the half marathon mark in 66 minutes, has 
got a prominent family name regarding the steeplechase: Maswai Kiptanui. 
But there are no connections to the former world record holder Moses 
Kiptanui. "If Günther has a Kiptanui as a pacemaker what can go wrong on 
Sunday," asks Race Director Wolfgang Konrad, who had been the Austrian 
record holder in the steeple as well. 

More information and online entry for the Vienna City Marathon is available 
at: www.vienna-marathon.com  

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