Press Release - Vienna City Marathon - 3/11/14

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
                 Caroline Chepkwony and Mai Ito Favourites,
                  But Anna Hahner Hopes to Waltz in Vienna

"Everybody waltz" – This is the motto of the 31st edition of the Vienna City 
Marathon on 13th April. But who will waltz first? "If my race goes well I 
will waltz after crossing the finish line," says Anna Hahner. If the German 
is in good form she might be able to compete for a place on the podium in 
Vienna. However the favourites come from elsewhere: Kenya's Caroline 
Chepkwony will be challenged by Mai Ito, who hopes to become the second 
Japanese athlete to take Austria's biggest sporting event. Adding other 
running events staged parallel to the Vienna City Marathon on 13th April 
race organisers registered more than 40,000 entries. There are no bib 
numbers left for this IAAF Gold Label Road Race. 

Organisers released names for the women's elite race today. Although 
Caroline Chepkwony looks to have a good chance to become the Vienna City 
Marathon champion a Kenyan win should not be taken for granted. The long 
history of the race shows there were only four Kenyan women who managed to 
finish first on Vienna's impressive Heldenplatz. One of these wins came 
last year, and there is a parallel which might be a good omen for 
Chepkwony. In 2013 Flomena Cheyech improved her personal best by almost ten 
minutes when she ran 2:24:34. Before that Cheyech won the Rome Ostia half 
marathon with a personal best of 67:39. Chepkwony chose the same race 
schedule this year and was equally successful, taking the Italian half 
marathon in 68:48 on 2nd March. She beat fellow-Kenyan Sharon Cherop, the 
2012 Boston Marathon champion, by three seconds. 

It will be the third marathon for 29 year-old Caroline Chepkwony. After 
running her debut in Berlin with 2:30:34 in 2012 she won the Ljubljana race 
in October 2013, improving to 2:27:27. Japan's Mai Ito has far more 
experience in marathon running and features a personal best of 2:25:26. She 
ran this time in 2012 when she finished fifth in Nagoya. Ito has been very 
consistent and achieved plenty of sub 2:30 times in recent years, but so 
far she has not managed to win a big marathon. The 29 year-old will hope to 
finally achieve this in Vienna, where there has been one Japanese victory 
so far: Tomo Morimoto won the race in 2006 with 2:24:33. However there 
might be a handicap to the Japanese, because she will run only seven weeks 
after finishing seventh in Tokyo with 2:28:36.

Russia's Olga Glok, who ran her PB of 2:27:12 when finishing second in 
Vienna two years ago, and Alice Chelangat (Kenya/2:29:47) are also expected 
to challenge for podium places. 

Anna Hahner will be paced by her twin sister Lisa and hopes to run well 
under 2:30 for the second time in her career. The 24 year-old significantly 
improved in Frankfurt last year, when she clocked 2:27:55. "In my 
preparations for Vienna I have trained in Spain and Kenya recently," said 
Anna Hahner, who together with her sister is coached by Italian Renato 
Canova since spring last year.

For more information please visit: www.vienna-marathon.com.

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