FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

18 Men with PBs of Sub 2:10 in Sunday's Race,
Tune and Dibaba to Attack Women's Course Record

The amazing development of recent years seems set to continue in Sunday's
Commerzbank Frankfurt Marathon. With 18 men featuring personal bests of sub
2:10 and eight of them having run faster than 2:07:15 last year's
world-class course record from Gilbert Kirwa (Kenya/2:06:14) will be
targeted. If weather conditions are fine the Commerzbank Frankfurt Marathon
could well see its first sub 2:06 time. The event is an IAAF Gold Label
Road Race.

Somehow it is an irony that so many runners feature such personal bests,
since it is not that long ago that the race eagerly waited for the first
sub 2:10 performance. It was not before 2003 and the introduction of
Christoph Kopp as the elite athletes' coordinator that such a time was
finally achieved. But since then the men's winner has always run sub 2:10.
Such is the extraordinary development that if a winner should run a 2:08 in
good conditions on Sunday it would go down as quite a disappointment. If
you take the 15 fastest men's times ever run in Frankfurt none of these is
older than five years. And the average of the ten fastest times ever run
has already come down to 2:07:39.6 hours.

While organisers had released names of the men's elite field earlier the
women runners have now been announced. In contrast to the men the women did
not quite live up to expectations in the past few years. This is why a much
stronger field has been signed for Sunday. The aim is to finally break the
five year-old course record set by Russia's Alevtina Biktimirova (2:25:12).
Five runners have been entered with personal bests of sub 2:26. Among them
are Ethiopians Dire Tune and Mare Dibaba. Tune has a personal best of
2:24:40 and was the winner of the Boston Marathon in 2008. Just recently
she won the silver medal in the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships.
Dibaba ran a great marathon debut in Rome, where she finished third with
2:25:38 in March this year. Earlier she had improved Tune's national half
marathon record to 67:13 minutes. Two Kenyans – defending champion Agnes
Kiprop (PB: 2:26:22) and Caroline Kilel (2:25:24) – plus Hilda
Kibet (Netherlands/2:30:33) could do very well as well.

Meanwhile European champion Zivile Balciunaite (Lithuania) had to
withdraw due to illness and former world record holder and world champion
Catherine Ndereba (Kenya) can not run because of a foot injury.

Main contenders of the Commerzbank Frankfurt Marathon are listed below:

MEN

BIB	NAME	GIVEN NAME	NAT	PB	RESULTS
2	Arusei	Moses	KEN	2:06:50	2009: 1. Seoul Marathon (2:07:54) 2008: 2. Paris Marathon (2:06:50) 2006: 2. Frankfurt Marathon (2:10:30)
3	Teimet	Sylvester	KEN	2:06:49	2010: 1. Seoul Marathon (2:06:49) 2009: 5. Chunchon Marathon (2:11:24) 2009: 3. Seoul Marathon (2:10:11) 2008: 1. Gyeongju Marathon (2:09:53) 2008: 1. Göteborg Halfmarathon (1:01:21)
4	Keitany	Elijah	KEN	2:06:41	2009: 2. Amsterdam Marathon (2:06:41) 2008: 3. Berlin Halfmarathon (1:00:10)
5	Mandago	David	KEN	2:06:53	2009:2. Seoul Marathon (2:09:01) 2009: 6. Paris Marathon (2:06:53)
6	Kiprop	Francis	KEN	2:07:04	2009: 2. Berlin Marathon (2:07:04) 2008: 4. seoul Marathon (2:08:30) 2007: 11. Amsterdam Marathon (2:09:49)
7	Tola	Tadesse	ETH	2:06:41	2010: 1. Paris Marathon (2:06:41) 2010: 2. RAK Halfmarathon (59:49)
8	Kipsang	Wilson	KEN	2:07:10	2010: 3. Paris Marathon (2:07:10) 2010: 4. Abu Dhabi Halfmarathon (1:00:04) 2009: 4. WC-Halfmarathon (1:00:08) 2009: 2. Ras Al Khaimah Halfmarathon (58:59) 2009: 2. Valencia Halfmarathon (59:33)
9	Kigen	Wilson	KEN	2:08:16	2010: 3. Hamburg Halfmarathon (1:07:30) 2008: 2. Frankfurt Marathon (2:08:16) 2006: 4. Seoul Marathon (2:09:47)
10	Kigen	Wilfred	KEN	2:07:33	2010: 1. Hamburg Marathon (2:09:22) 2008: 2. Hamburg Marathon (2:07:48) 2007: 1. Frankfurt Marathon (2:07:58) 2007: 2. Hamburg Marathon (2:07:33) 2006: 1. Frankfurt Marathon (2:09:06) 2005: 1. Frankfurt Marathon (2:08:29)
11	Rotich	James	KEN	2:07:12	2009: 7. Eindhoven Marathon (2:09:33) 2007: 3. Amsterdam Marathon (2:07:12)
12	Chelimo	Elias	KEN	2:08:15	2010: 8. Rotterdam Marathon (2:10:29) 2009: 4. Frankfurt Marathon (2:08:15) 2008: 2. Milano Marathon (2:08:39)
14	Sanga	Philip	KEN	2:08:07	2010: 5. Daegu Marathon (2:12:52) 2009: 2. Eindhoven Marathon (2:08:07) 2009: 5. Rome Marathon (2:10:09)
15	Asmerom	Yared	ERI	2:08:34	2010: 5. Seoul Marathon (2:11:46) 2009: 3. Lake Biwa Marathon (2:10:49) 2008: 2. Lake Biwa Marathon (2:08:34) 2008: 8. OG-Marathon (2:11:11) 2007: 4. WC-Marathon (2:17:41)
16	Bungei	Samson	KEN	2:08:36	2010: 4. Hannover Marathon (2:09:58) 2009: 2. Cologne Marathon (2:08:36) 2009: 1. Dortmund Marathon (2:09:23)
17	Sugut	Henry	KEN	2:08:40	2010: 1. Vienna Marathon (2:08:40)
19	Kutto	Edwin	KEN	2:09:50	2010: 3. Hannover Marathon (2:09:50) 2009: 4. Cologne Marathon (2:11:55)
20	Kiprono	Isaac	KEN	2:09:59	2004: 2. Padova Marathon (2:10:46) 2001: 5. Rotterdam Marathon
32	Kipkemboi	Laban	KEN	2:08:38	2009: 3. Los Angeles Marathon (2:10:29) 2008: 6. Hamburg Marathon (2:09:46) 2007: 3. Seoul Marathon (2:08:38)

WOMEN

F01	Kiprop	Agnes	KEN	2:26:22	2010: 11. Boston marathon (2:33:21) 2009: 1. Frankfurt Marathon (2:26:57) 2009: 1. Turin Marathon (2:26:22)
F02	Tune	Dire	ETH	2:24:40	2010: 3. Worlds Best 10 km San Juan 2009: 2. Boston Marathon (2:32:17) 2008: 1. Boston Marathon (2:25:25) 2008. 15. Olympic Games Marathon 2008: 1. Houston Marathon (2:24:40)
F03	Kilel	Caroline	KEN	2:25:24	2010: 3. Seoul Marathon (2:26:58) 2009: 1. Ljubljana Marathon (2:25:24)
F05	Egigayehu	Asnakech	ETH	2:25:50	2010: 1. Milano Marathon (2:25:50) 2009: 3. Rock "n" Roll Marathon Arizona (2:33:32) 2008: 5. Amsterdam Marathon (2:34:31)
F06	Kimutai	Hellen	KEN	2:25:52	2010: 1. Vienna Marathon (2:31:08) 2009: 2. Frankfurt Marathon (2:27:50) 2007: 2. Roma Marathon (2:26:46) 2003: 1. hamburg Marathon (2:25:52)
F07	Dibaba	Mare	ETH	2:25:38	2010: 3. Rom Marathon (2:25:38) debut 2010: 2. Ras Al Khaimah Halfmarathon (1:07:13)
F08	Andersson	Isabellah	SWE	2:26:52	2010: 5. EC-Marathon (2:34:43) 2010: 5. Dubai Marathon (2:26:52)
F09	Volgina	Natalia	RUS	2:27:32	2010: 1. Düsseldorf Marathon (2:30:47) 2009: 6. Toronto Marathon (2:35:50) 2007: 5. Rom Marathon (2:30:31) 2006: 2. Paris Marathon (2:27:32)
F10	Kibet	Hilda	NED	2:30:33	2009: 3. Amsterdam Mararthon 2009: 6. WC-Cross Amman 2008: 5. WC-Cross 2008: 1. EC-Cross 2007: 6. Amsterdam Marathon
F11	Kalovics	Aniko	HUN	2:29:04	2008: 1. Venedig Marathon (2:31:24) 2008: 3. Roma Marathon (2:29:04) 2007: 1 Torino Marathon (2:29:24)

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