FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Vienna City Marathon on Sunday:
Women might target two time barriers in Vienna
The course record and the Austrian record could be under threat at Sunday's
Vienna City Marathon and with them two major barriers that are ten minutes
apart. While the current course best stands at 2:20:59 and an attack on
that might lead to a first sub 2:20 winning time in the history of the
Vienna City Marathon, no Austrian woman has ever run under 2:30. A strong
group of Kenyan runners are the favorites with four of them featuring
personal bests of sub 2:24. Close to her hometown Julia Mayer hopes to
write Austrian marathon history on Sunday. Organisers of Austria's major
running event have registered more than 39,000 entries including races at
shorter distances. Over 9,000 of them are marathon runners. The Vienna City
Marathon is a World Athletics Elite Label Road Race.
Women's course records used to be very rare for the first two decades of
this century. Back in 2000 the late Italian Maura Viceconte clocked 2:23:47
and this mark then stood for almost 20 years. In 2019 Kenya's Nancy Kiprop
finally improved the record to 2:22:12. However this time the mark survived
only one edition of the Vienna City Marathon and was then broken by Vibian
Chepkirui. The Kenyan clocked 2:20:59 a year ago.
Kenyans Visiline Jepkesho (2:21:37), Magdalyne Masai (2:22:16), Rebecca
Tanui (2:23:09) and Agnes Keino (2:23:26) are the ones who have entered the
race with PBs of sub 2:24. Preparing for Vienna Magdalyne Masai showed fine
form when she ran 67:07 in the Rome Ostia half marathon little over a month
ago. "This PB gives me a positive feeling for Vienna. I hope to be able to
fight for victory and break the course record," said Magdalyne Masai, who
is the younger sister of the 2009 World 10,000 m Champion Linet Masai and
of Moses Masai, the bronze medallist at these championships over 10,000 m.
Visiline Jepkesho is the fastest woman on the start list. Coming back after
maternity leave she will run her first marathon since 2019, hoping to come
back strongly. Supported by Brother Colm O'Connell in Iten, Kenya, she has
won a number of marathons, among them Paris in 2016 and Rotterdam two years
later. While it will be interesting to see if she can achieve a result in
the region of her 2:21:37 PB fellow-Kenyans Rebecca Tanui and Agnes Keino
intend to break their personal records in Vienna. "However I don't want to
put too much pressure on myself," said Rebecca Tanui, who took the San
Sebastián Marathon last year with 2:23:09. Agnes Keino also clocked her PB
of 2:23:26 in 2022, when she won the Munich Marathon, defeating former
World Champion Mare Dibaba of Ethiopia. "I am in better shape than before
Munich and I want to break my PB in Vienna. If conditions are good then a
time of 2:21 could become a target," said Agnes Keino.
No Austrian woman has ever run a sub 2:30 marathon. This barrier could be
broken at the Vienna City Marathon on Sunday by Julia Mayer. The 30
year-old from Vienna did run one marathon before, however this was not a
serious debut. During the pandemic she competed in an elite only race in
the Vienna Prater Park and clocked 2:46:35 in December 2020. It was in this
race, when Eva Wutti broke the Austrian record with a time of 2:30:43 that
still stands today. She will be competing on Sunday as well. Last year
Julia Mayer improved the Austrian half marathon record to 71:13, a time
that indicates that she should be capable of breaking 2:30.
"I am really looking forward to the Vienna City Marathon. The Prater Park
is my training ground. I have prepared well with a weekly milage of around
200 kilometers," said Julia Mayer, who came close to her half marathon
record in March when she was fourth in Gent with 71:31. „My big goal is to
break the Austrian record and run a sub 2:30 time. In near future I then
hope to run 2:26 and achieve the Olympic qualifying time."
Sunday's Vienna City Marathon has some historic relevance this year as
well. It is the first time since at least the period of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire with its dual monarchy, which ended 105 years ago
in 1918, that national marathon championships for Austria and Hungary will
be held in the same event. There will of course be separate rankings for
Austrian and Hungarian runners on Sunday. With a personal best of 2:35:37
Zsofia Erdelyi is the favorite in the race for the Hungarian title.
ELITE WOMEN RUNNERS:
Visiline Jepkesho KEN 2:21:37
Magdalyne Masai KEN 2:22:16
Rebecca Tanui KEN 2:23:09
Agnes Keino KEN 2:23:26
Caroline Jepchirchir KEN 2:26:11
Gadise Mulu ETH 2:26:20
Angelika Mach POL 2:27:48
Nuriet Shimels ETH 2:27:58
Viola Yator KEN 2:28:11
Branna MacDougall CAN 2:28:36
Eva Wutti AUT 2:30:43
Sasha Gollish CAN 2:31:40
Valdilene Silva BRA 2:32:01
Rutendo Nyahora ARG 2:34:49
Zsofia Erdelyi HUN 2:35:37
Julia Mayer AUT 2:46:35
For more information please visit: www.vienna-marathon.com
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