First German victory in Chicago Marathon 2009?

October 8, 2009

Two names will headline this weekends 33th Chicago Marathon (October 11). On the mens side Kenyan Sammy Wanjiru might attack the marathon world record while on the womens side German marathon star Irina Mikitenko could be the first German ever to win the Marathon in the “windy city” Chicago.

With a victory in Chicago, Mikitenko would secure the second consecutive win of the World Marathon Majors Series. For Mikitenko it will be the first marathon outside of Europe and she will face a strong field. Defeating champion Lidiya Grigoryeva and this years London marathon 3rd place finisher Liliya Shobukhova (both from Russia) will provide an interesting race. The American hopes are on Deena Kastor, who holds the 2nd fastest marathon-PB (2:19:36, Chicago 2005) in the field. The african challengers will most probably be the two Ethiopians Elfenesh Alemu (2:24:29 h) and Teyba Erkesso (2:24:18 h).

The course record in Chicago was set by Paula Radcliffe in 2002 with the second fastest time in history (2:17:18). The race will start at 7.30AM (UTC – 7h) local time (i.e. 14.30 CEST).