FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Defending champion Robert Cheruiyot up against Wilfred Kigen,
Günther Weidlinger will chase 23 year-old Austrian record
This year's Commerzbank Frankfurt Marathon will be highlighted by a duel
between those two Kenyans who have shared winning the race during the last
four occasions: Wilfred Kigen was the winner from 2005 to 2007 while Robert
Cheruiyot took Germany's oldest city marathon in 2008, causing a major
upset to the favourites. But this year's men's race will also see one of
the most promising European athletes in the marathon: Günther Weidlinger.
The Austrian will chase the 23 year-old Austrian record.
The Commerzbank Frankfurt Marathon, which boosts a new title sponsor, will
take place on 25th October. It is an IAAF Gold Label Road Race. Entry
figures for the 28th edition of the event are up by almost 18 percent. If
the high interest continues organisers expect a record field of between
13,000 and 14,000 runners. Online entry is available at:
www.frankfurt-marathon.com
Frankfurt will see a duel between those two runners, who hold the two
fastest times in the history of the race. Wilfred Kigen had taken the event
in 2007. Besides becoming the first ever runner to manage a hattrick he
clocked a course record of 2:07:58. But Kigen lost this record to his
successor Robert K. Cheruiyot. The 21 year-old debutant surprised with
2:07:21 in 2008.
"Frankfurt is almost second home for Wilfred Kigen. So we are very happy to
welcome him back again. Wilfred is our crowd favourite," said Race Director
Jo Schindler. 34 year-old Wilfred Kigen has a personal best of 2:07:33 from
Hamburg in 2007. He will target his fourth win in Frankfurt and wants to
reestablish his position as one of Kenya's strongest marathon runners.
Kigen had been unlucky in his recent marathons, when an Achilles tendon
injury forced him to drop out of the New York Marathon in 2008 and a slight
calf problem caused a below par perfomance in Düsseldorf. He finished
second in May with 2:11:30.
"The duel between Kigen and Cheryuiot will be an absolute highlight of the
Commerzbank Frankfurt Marathon," said Christoph Kopp, who is in charge for
the elite field of the event. Robert K. Cheruiyot, who is not related to
the Boston and Chicago marathon champion with the same name, has meanwhile
proved that his success in Frankfurt in 2008 was not a coincidence.
Cheruiyot placed fifth in April's high-class Boston Marathon.
Günther Weidlinger clearly has the ability to become one of Europe's
leading marathon runners. The former world-class steeplechaser from Austria
ran his marathon debut at the Vienna City Marathon in April. He then
clocked 2:12:39 but missed his goal. This was the Austrian record set by
Gerhard Hartmann in 1986 (2:12:22). "This will kind of follow me until I
have finally broken it," said Günther Weidlinger. The 31 year-old holds
almost all Austrian long distance records, both on the track as well as on
the road. Weidlinger is number one at 1,500 m (3:34.69), 3,000 m
steeplechase (8:10.83), 5,000 m (13:13.44), 10,000 m (27:36.46), 10 k
(28:10) and half marathon (61:42). His best ever performance in the steeple
chase came at the Olympics in Sydney in 2000, where he finished eighth.
Günther Weidlinger clearly hopes for a major improvement of his marathon
best in Frankfurt. When he ran Vienna he was not at his best. He competed
with a hidden stress fracture in his pelvis, which was then thought to be
an inguinal hernia. He even had an operation after the Vienna race, but
only then it was discovered that the hernia was ok. "I hope that Günther
will break the Austrian record in Frankfurt and that he establishes himself
as one of Europe's leading marathon runners," said Christoph Kopp.
For more information and online registration visit:
www.frankfurt-marathon.com
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