FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

HAJ Hannover Marathon On Sunday:

Hannover returns with focus on German championships

The HAJ Hannover Marathon will be back on Sunday after a two-year gap due
to the Corona pandemic. Returning with its 30th edition the race will
feature the German Marathon Championships. Because of uncertainties
regarding the Covid 19 situation in the build-up organisers decided to
focus on the national championships this year and to only allow a limited
international elite field. While Hendrik Pfeiffer and Rabea Sch?neborn are
the clear favourites in the race for the national title there might still
be international overall winners. The HAJ Hannover Marathon is a World
Athletics Label Road Race.

"It will be a very emotional return for all participants as well as for the
organising team," said Race Director Stefanie Eichel. "We are really happy
to come back with this race and we are well aware about our responsibility
under the current conditions. Our approach is to make sure that our
participants feel good and safe during our event." Including events at
other distances the organisers of the HAJ Hannover Marathon set a limit of
18,400 participants for this year. Close to 4,000 of them will run the
classic distance.

A runner of Mongolia heads the start list of the HAJ Hannover Marathon:
Byambajav Tseveenravdan has a personal best of 2:09:03 from Oita (Japan) in
2020. While this remains his only sub 2:10 time he ran in the Olympic
Marathon last summer and placed 55th. With this result Byambajav
Tseveenravdan is in a similar performance range as Hendrik Pfeiffer, who
was 50th in the tough Olympic race. The German has a personal best of
2:10:18 from Sevilla in 2020, which makes him the clear favourite in the
race for the German title on Sunday. "My goal is to qualify for the
European Championships in Munich and to run a personal best in Hannover. It
is a nice and fast course and I look forward to enjoy the atmosphere with
spectators back along the course," said Hendrik Pfeiffer.

While Hendrik Pfeiffer is likely to run in a group that targets a half
marathon split time of 65:30 a few Kenyan athletes might go much faster on
Sunday. Daniel Muteti is the second fastest runner on the start list with a
personal best of 2:09:25. He clocked this time in Cape Town in 2019.
However Daniel Muteti has not raced internationally in the past two years.
It is a similar story with fellow-Kenyan Josphat Kiptis, who only competed
once during this time. He will run his marathon debut on Sunday. While
Josphat Kiptis features a promising half marathon PB of 60:21, he ran this
back in 2015.

Germany's Rabea Sch?neborn is not only the big favorite in the title race
but additionally she is the fastest woman on the start list. The runner
from Berlin improved to 2:27:03 last spring in Enschede, where she missed a
place on the German Olympic team by just nine seconds. It was her twin
sister Deborah Sch?neborn who qualified with a PB of 2:26:55 and then
achieved a strong 18th place in the Olympic race. Looking at her sister's
family record Rabea Sch?neborn said: "I want to run a personal best on
Sunday and rectify this."

There is one athlete who could be able to challenge Rabea Sch?neborn in
Hannover: Matea Parlov Kostro. The Croatian achieved a fine 21st place in
the Olympic marathon in 2021 and has a personal best of 2:28:52. Matea
Parlov Kostro's aim will be to qualify for the European Championships on
Sunday.

Elite athletes with personal bests

Men:

Byambajav Tseveenravdan MGL 2:09:03
Daniel Muteti KEN 2:09:25
Hendrik Pfeiffer GER 2:10:18
Wilfred Kiptoo KEN 2:13:55
Martin Olesen DEN 2:15:33
Archie Casteel SWE 2:15:48
Marcus Sch?fisch GER 2:15:59
Frank Schauer GER 2:16:30
Valdas Dopolskas LTU 2:16:35
Tobias Blum GER 2:16:57
Christian Steinhammer AUT 2:17:19
Josphat Kiptis KEN Debut

Women:

Rabea Sch?neborn GER 2:27:03
Matea Parlov Kostro CRO 2:28:52
Vaida Zusinaite-Nekriosiene LTU 2:32:50
Runa Skorte Falck NOR 2:33:52
Domenika Mayer GER Debut

More information about the HAJ Marathon Hannover is available at:
www.marathon-hannover.de

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