October 13, 2009
In last Sundays Chicago marathon Irina Mikitenko took second place in her first marathon outside of Europe. The 37-year old German was beaten only by Russian Liliya Shobukhova (2:25:56 h), clocking a time of 2:26:31 h. The mens race was won by reigning Olympic Champion Sammy Wanjiru (KEN) with a new course record of 2:05:41 h.
With temperatures around the freezing point, the womens field went out rather slow. The first 5K were covered in 18:22min by the favourites. The race then got faster step-by-step but none of the pre-race favourites could build a gap on the opponents until very late in the race. Halfway was reached in 1:15:05 h – almost jogging tempo for some of the women. In the second half a quartet was build, that consisted of Irina Mikitenko, Lidiya Grigoryeva, Liliya Shobukhova (both Rus) and Teyba Erkesso (Eth). Only 3K before the finish a definitive increase in pace was established by the 31-year old Russian Liliya Shobukhova. A women with great track speed (5.000m PB 14:23,70), the Russian built a gap on her closest competitors pretty easy and finished her second marathon with an impressive negative split (1:15:05 + 1:10:51 h). After her third place finish in London 2009 behind Irina Mikitenko and Mara Yamauchi it was her first big victory. Irina Mikitenko had to settle with second place but nevertheless had a smile on her face and waved to the crowds on the last meters of the 42,195 kilometers. Defending Champion Lidiya Grigoryeva took 3rd place, 12 seconds behind Mikitenko.
In the mens race the pre-race favourite Sammy Wanjiru of Kenya took his 4th victory in his 5th marathon. Unlike the womens race, the men went out with a blistering pace, even being below world record splits for the first kilometers. After a 1:02:01 first half, the pace slowed down considerably but when Wanjiru threw in a surge just after 35K his opponents were left in the dust. With a time of 2:05:41, the 22-year old improved the Chicago marathon course record (Khalid Khannouchi, 2:05:41 h) by 1 second. Moroccan Abderrahim Goumri had a strong second half and collected runner-by-runner, eventually finishing second in 2:06:04 h. Third place went to Kenyan Vincent Kipruto (2:06:08 h).
October 10, 2009
The 33th Bank of America Chicago marathon will be broadcasted by international and US media.
The marathon race will start on Sunday at 7.30AM local time in Chicago (i.e.12.30 UTC). Short marathonscene.com preview here.
The free internet stream will be available worldwide at UniversalSports via this link. Furthermore NBC 5 Chicago will broadcast from 6.30AM to 11.00AM (local time) via the US television network.
October 9, 2009
The IAAF World Half Marathon Championships that are going to be held on this Sunday (October, 12th) in Birmingham will be broadcasted live on the internet. Universal Sports will start the stream at 9.00 AM UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) via this link.
The online coverage will include both the womens (start 9.00AM) and mens race (start 9.30AM).
October 1, 2009
Long distance legend Haile Gebrselassie will crown the 20th edition of the New Year Eve Run in Trier. On the 1km-loop through the old town Haile wants to break the 12-year old course record for the 8km race that is held by Kenyan Isaac Kariuki (22:21min).
The race in Trier will most probably be his first serious race after the Berlin marathon 2009. The 36-year old wants to use the race as a build-up for the Dubai marathon, that will take place three weeks after Trier. Haile stated that “the race in Trier has a good reputation in the running scene – especially because of the great atmosphere”.
This year 2.000 runners and more than 20.000 spectators are expected for the 20th anniversary of the “German Sao Paolo”.
September 18, 2009
The 36th real Berlin Marathon will be broadcasted by German and international media.
The marathon race that will be started at 9.00 AM (German time) will be shown on TV by television channel RBB. For users with internet access a live online stream should be available via this link.
International visitors can also try the streaming from UniversalSports.
July 22, 2009
The top two distance runners of Austria, Andrea Mayr and Günther Weidlinger announced that they will not compete in this years World Championships in Berlin (15th-23th of August) because of health related issues.
Andrea Mayr stated that the preparation time for a marathon would be too short after a tendon operation that was undertaken in April this year. Nevertheless, Mayr recently took 3rd place in the European Mountain Running Championship.
Günther Weidlinger suffered several injuries in the last week and currently has to take a break because of am inflammation in his pelvis. Weidlinger will most probably run in the Frankfurt Marathon this year and is going to attack the Austrian Record after just missing the mark in his debut run in Vienna.
July 21, 2009
With two months to go to the Berlin marathon, which will pretty much open the marathon autumn this year, most of the top male marathoners have decided where they want to run (unless they are running the World Championships in Berlin).
In the 36th real,- Berlin marathon (20th of September 2009) Haile Gebrselassie will face strong competition, even though the race organisers could not afford a showdown between Haile and Samuel Wanjiru. However, the 2nd fastest ever-marathon runner Duncan Kibet will join “Mr Long Distance” Haile Gebrselassie in the chase for the new world record on the fast course in Berlin. Kibet won the Amsterdam Marathon in April this year with a time of 2:04:27h. Only Haile himself was faster already over the 42,195km distance. Last year he set the current World Record with a clocking of 2:03:59h in Berlin.
Earlier this year there was some confusion about a possible clash between World Record Gebrselassie and Olympic Champion Wanjiru, but Wanjiru’s statement that he would like to face Geb could not be fulfilled.
Sami Wanjiru is now running the 2009 Bank of America Chicago Marathon (11th October) as several media reported. On the fast course he wants to attack the world record and will face competition from previos Chicago marathon winners Evans Cheruiyot (2008 winner) and Patrick Ivuti (2007 winner).
June 18, 2009
The 2002 European Marathon Champion and Finnish marathon record holder Janne Holmen announced earlier this week that he will quit his competitive running career.
The biggest achievement of Janne Holmen was without doubt the performance in the 2002 European Championships in Munich/GER where he won the Gold medal with a time of 2:12:04h. Four years later in the European Championships in Gothenburg he placed 7th with 2:13:10h. In the IAAF World Championships 2007 Holmen became 9th in 2:19:36h. He also competed in two Olympic Games (2004: 22nd place and 2008: 19th place). Holmen set the current Finnish marathon record of 2:10:46 in the Rotterdam marathon 2008.
The 31-year old doctor of philosophy and father of two children stated that his work and family responsibilities and aims make it almost impossible to continue a professional running training and lifestyle.
June 2, 2009
Britains Athletic Federation (UK Athletics) nominated 3 women for the road events of the IAAF World Championships 2009 in Berlin.
The two fastest ever female marathon runners Paula Radcliffe and Mara Yamauchi are joined by the UK’s fastest ever female walker Johanna Jackson. Officials stated, that the target is on getting individual medals and therefore no complete teams were nominated for the World Cup team competition. Another factor for the small team are the World Half Marathon Championships 2009 that will take place in Birmingham later in this year. UK Athletics wants to nominate a team for male and female events for this competition on home soil.
Radcliffe was selected based on her victory in last years New York City marathon (2:23:56). The 35-year old holds the marathon world record and won the world championships title in Helsinki 2005 and is now eager to regain the title after a recent operation on her toe.
Mara Yamauchi was 6th in last years Olympic Games and finished this years London marathon in 2nd with a PB of 2:23:12h. In the last world championships the 35-year old finished 9th in Osaka/Japan, the country where she currently resides.
The youngest member of the team will be race walker Johanna Jackson (24). Jackson holds the UK record at 20K race walking with 1:31:16h and collected Olympic experience by finishing 22nd in last years Beijing Games.
May 28, 2009
Now it is official: Olympic Marathon Champion Sammy Wanjiru will face Marathon World Record holder Haile Gebrselassie! One week after Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie announced that he will try to brake his own world record (2:03:59h), also Kenyan Samuel Wanjiru confirmed that he will not run the world championships marathon for the Kenyan team, even if Athletics Kenya nominated him.
It will be pretty amazing to see the two best marathoners of the last years to race each other. It’s more than Ethiopia vs. Kenya or youth vs. age! Of course everyone is expecting a new world record now, but it’s still 4 months to go and first of all the two contenders have to toe the line healthy and fit. If this is the case and the pacemakers make their job as good as usual in Berlin we can of course dream of a huge improvement of the current mark, which was set by Geb in Berlin 2008.
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