FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Philipp Kopp makes seamless transition as Frankfurt's success story
for Elite Racing continues
The best ever combined winners' times for the 40th edition of the Mainova
Frankfurt Marathon on Sunday marked a seamless continuation from the
highest quality results for the elite runners in pre-Corona days. The
achievements of the Kenyan Brimin Misoi with his time of 2:04:53 and
Buzunesh Gudeta of Ethiopia running 2:19:27 when they crossed the finish
line in Frankfurt's Festhalle provided an aggregate time of 4:24:20, by a
considerable margin the fastest in the history of Germany's oldest city
marathon. The next edition will be on October 27 next year.
Quite apart from the difficulties caused by the pandemic, it was anything
but a matter of course that the elite results would turn out to be so
impressive, given the unfavourable weather conditions. Spring of this year
marked the death of the man who had led the development of the elite field
to world-class standard over two decades: Christoph Kopp.
His son Philipp took over in the role of elite co-ordinator, working with
Sandra Wolter, who had already had the role of Christoph Kopp's "Right
Hand" in Frankfurt since 2003.
A few years ago that did not seem to be a straightforward matter. "At the
time I really did ask myself, what are we going to do when one day
Christoph is no longer available? We never really found a proper answer. I
then joked saying to Christoph we will stop simultaneously," reflected
Frankfurt's race director Jo Schindler. "So I'm delighted that, following
the loss of Christoph, we've had a seamless and successful transition."
Together with Sandra Wolter, Philipp Kopp continue the work of their
father's company, International Sports Service (ISS) in Berlin.
Philipp Kopp grew up with the sport of athletics. Even at the age of
two-and-a-half, he was a spectator at the 1995 Boston Marathon – and ran
ahead through the passport check at the USA border control. "Philipp sat on
my lap at the age of five," remembered Jo Schindler.
He had been working for his father at the Mainova Frankfurt Marathon since
2007 and subsequently studied Sports Management. A key development was his
trip to Kenya in 2019. "I went to Jean Paul Fourier in Iten and had many
conversations with athletes. Patrick Makau also helped me a lot to gather
contacts so that I began to manage leading Kenyan runners," said Philipp
Kopp, whose aim is to develop the professionalization of the business still
further. Among his athletes are Kenya's World Half Marathon bronze
medallist Samwel Mailu, the Ethiopian World Cross Country silver medallist
Tsigie Gebreselama, the European silver medallist in the women's marathon,
Matea Parlov Kostro of Croatia and the German record holder for the men's
marathon, Amanal Petros.
Apart from athlete management, working as elite field co-ordinators for a
series of races is a core part of the business for Philipp Kopp and Sandra
Wolter. On that front there is the prospect of a further addition to their
portfolio in a new event planned for May next year: the Gutenberg Half
Marathon will take place in Mainz on May 5 where Jo Schindler has taken
over as race director.
Further information can be found at: www.frankfurt-marathon.com
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