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Press Release - Vienna City Marathon - 4/20/23

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
                      Vienna City Marathon on Sunday:            

               Women might target two time barriers in Vienna

The course record and the Austrian record could be under threat at Sunday's 
Vienna City Marathon and with them two major barriers that are ten minutes 
apart. While the current course best stands at 2:20:59 and an attack on 
that might lead to a first sub 2:20 winning time in the history of the 
Vienna City Marathon, no Austrian woman has ever run under 2:30. A strong 
group of Kenyan runners are the favorites with four of them featuring 
personal bests of sub 2:24. Close to her hometown Julia Mayer hopes to 
write Austrian marathon history on Sunday. Organisers of Austria's major 
running event have registered more than 39,000 entries including races at 
shorter distances. Over 9,000 of them are marathon runners. The Vienna City 
Marathon is a World Athletics Elite Label Road Race.

Women's course records used to be very rare for the first two decades of 
this century. Back in 2000 the late Italian Maura Viceconte clocked 2:23:47 
and this mark then stood for almost 20 years. In 2019 Kenya's Nancy Kiprop 
finally improved the record to 2:22:12. However this time the mark survived 
only one edition of the Vienna City Marathon and was then broken by Vibian 
Chepkirui. The Kenyan clocked 2:20:59 a year ago. 

Kenyans Visiline Jepkesho (2:21:37), Magdalyne Masai (2:22:16), Rebecca 
Tanui (2:23:09) and Agnes Keino (2:23:26) are the ones who have entered the 
race with PBs of sub 2:24. Preparing for Vienna Magdalyne Masai showed fine 
form when she ran 67:07 in the Rome Ostia half marathon little over a month 
ago. "This PB gives me a positive feeling for Vienna. I hope to be able to 
fight for victory and break the course record," said Magdalyne Masai, who 
is the younger sister of the 2009 World 10,000 m Champion Linet Masai and 
of Moses Masai, the bronze medallist at these championships over 10,000 m. 

Visiline Jepkesho is the fastest woman on the start list. Coming back after 
maternity leave she will run her first marathon since 2019, hoping to come 
back strongly. Supported by Brother Colm O'Connell in Iten, Kenya, she has 
won a number of marathons, among them Paris in 2016 and Rotterdam two years 
later. While it will be interesting to see if she can achieve a result in 
the region of her 2:21:37 PB fellow-Kenyans Rebecca Tanui and Agnes Keino 
intend to break their personal records in Vienna. "However I don't want to 
put too much pressure on myself," said Rebecca Tanui, who took the San 
Sebastián Marathon last  year with 2:23:09. Agnes Keino also clocked her PB 
of 2:23:26 in 2022, when she won the Munich Marathon, defeating former 
World Champion Mare Dibaba of Ethiopia. "I am in better shape than before 
Munich and I want to break my PB in Vienna. If conditions are good then a 
time of 2:21 could become a target," said Agnes Keino. 

No Austrian woman has ever run a sub 2:30 marathon. This barrier could be 
broken at the Vienna City Marathon on Sunday by Julia Mayer. The 30 
year-old from Vienna did run one marathon before, however this was not a 
serious debut. During the pandemic she competed in an elite only race in 
the Vienna Prater Park and clocked 2:46:35 in December 2020. It was in this 
race, when Eva Wutti broke the Austrian record with a time of 2:30:43 that 
still stands today. She will be competing on Sunday as well. Last year 
Julia Mayer improved the Austrian half marathon record to 71:13, a time 
that indicates that she should be capable of breaking 2:30. 

"I am really looking forward to the Vienna City Marathon. The Prater Park 
is my training ground. I have prepared well with a weekly milage of around 
200 kilometers," said Julia Mayer, who came close to her half marathon 
record in March when she was fourth in Gent with 71:31. „My big goal is to 
break the Austrian record and run a sub 2:30 time. In near future I then 
hope to run 2:26 and achieve the Olympic qualifying time." 

Sunday's Vienna City Marathon has some historic relevance this year as 
well. It is the first time since at least the period of the 
Austro-Hungarian Empire with its dual monarchy, which ended 105 years ago 
in 1918, that national marathon championships for Austria and Hungary will 
be held in the same event. There will of course be separate rankings for 
Austrian and Hungarian runners on Sunday. With a personal best of 2:35:37 
Zsofia Erdelyi is the favorite in the race for the Hungarian title.

ELITE WOMEN RUNNERS:

Visiline Jepkesho    KEN 2:21:37
Magdalyne Masai      KEN 2:22:16
Rebecca Tanui        KEN 2:23:09
Agnes Keino          KEN 2:23:26
Caroline Jepchirchir KEN 2:26:11
Gadise Mulu          ETH 2:26:20
Angelika Mach        POL 2:27:48
Nuriet Shimels       ETH 2:27:58
Viola Yator          KEN 2:28:11
Branna MacDougall    CAN 2:28:36
Eva Wutti            AUT 2:30:43
Sasha Gollish        CAN 2:31:40
Valdilene Silva      BRA 2:32:01
Rutendo Nyahora      ARG 2:34:49
Zsofia Erdelyi       HUN 2:35:37
Julia Mayer          AUT 2:46:35

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

                                    ###

 

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