German marathon women for Beijing: Mikitenko with problems while Hahn faces the heat

July 30, 2008

Germany’s biggest hope for the distance events in the Olympic Games – Irina Mikitenko (this years London-Marathon winner; PB: 2:24:14h) is forced out of the “Berliner City-Night” (10K) on next weekend due to health problems. Pain in the back and pelvis, that also emanate into the feet made her dropping out of the race, which was planned as a last test before the Olympic Games. The problems appeared 6 weeks ago but vanished after injections into the pain region. However, in the altitude training camp in St. Moritz the problems reappeared and after 20 minutes of running Mikitenko feels a pain in the feet. She has still hopes to compete in Beijing, but the time is running and all the faster sessions had to be cancelled.
In the meantime another marathon-Olympian – Susanne Hahn (PB: 2:29:33h) – has a good preparation and will compete as planned in the “Berliner City-Night”. Hahn decided to make her training camp in Kienbaum/GER and is happy that the weather in Germany is currently hot and humid (around 30°C). This will prepare her for the conditions in Beijing, that are likely to be somewhat challenging.

German marathon-hopeful Irina Mikitenko

also on the German marathon team: Susanne Hahn

  original enclosure (in German) leichtathletik.de and 2