HASPA MARATHON HAMBURG ON SUNDAY: Course records and Olympic qualification the targets in Hamburg

HASPA MARATHON HAMBURG ON SUNDAY

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Course records and Olympic qualification the targets in Hamburg, by Race News Service

World-class fields will go for course records and target Olympic qualification in Sunday’s Haspa Marathon in Hamburg. Kenya’s defending champion and course record holder Bernard Koech, who tied his best with 2:04:09 a year ago, is back. At the same time, Gotytom Gebreslase, the World Champion from 2022, is the favorite in the women’s race. The Ethiopian, who has a PB of 2:18:18, wants to secure the third spot for the Paris Olympic race in Hamburg. Fellow Ethiopian Yalemzerf Yehualaw holds Hamburg’s course record of 2:17:23. Late entry Nienke Brinkman will also try to qualify for Paris. The Dutch runner is the bronze medallist from the European Championships in Munich in 2022.

Organizers of Germany’s biggest and fastest spring marathon have registered a record total of 38,210 runners. Among them are 15,000 athletes who will compete in the classic event. “If all goes well on Sunday and the pacemakers run a bit more even and slightly faster, we could see results similar to last year. I am curious to see if Gotytom Gebreslase manages to qualify for Paris and if she can break the course record. But even a sub 2:20 time is special since we only have one so far,“ said chief organizer Frank Thaleiser, who introduced an additional bonus of 20,000 Euros for the course records. All runners – men and women – who finish inside the course records share this amount. If there were one man and three women who clock faster times than the previous records, they would each receive 5,000 Euros. “This way, we want to encourage the runners in a leading group to go for a fast time after the last pacemaker has dropped out,“ explained Frank Thaleiser.

“Training was going well, and compared to last year in Hamburg, I have reached the same level. So if the weather conditions are fine then a fast time is possible,“ said Bernard Koech. It is highly unlikely that he could still be selected for the Olympic marathon, but he said: “I will give everything, and if they should select me, then I will be ready.“ Bernard Koech is one of seven runners in the race who feature personal bests of sub 2:05:00. While Ethiopia’s Getaneh Molla is the fastest on the start list at 2:03:34, he has not reached such times in recent years.

Brimin Misoi and Philemon Kiplimo are tipped to be among the strongest challengers for defending champion Koech. Both have done very well on German roads in the past. Misoi has won the Frankfurt Marathon twice in a row. When he defended his title last autumn, the Kenyan improved to 2:04:53 despite windy and rainy conditions. He now intends to run faster in Hamburg. “I ran the Paris Marathon at the beginning of April. But because of breathing problems, I dropped out and decided to go for Hamburg,“ said Misoi. In Berlin last year, Philemon Kiplimo improved to 2:04:56 and finished eighth in a very competitive race. “German roads are good for me, so I look forward to Sunday. I want to run with the leading group and improve my time,“ said Kiplimo, who has a superb half marathon PB of 58:11.

“We are planning a pace in the region of the course record, maybe slightly faster. Additionally, there will be a really big group of probably 25 athletes who will target the 2:08:10 Olympic qualifying time“, said Hamburg’s Elite Race Coordinator Jurrie van der Velden of Jos Hermens’ Global Management. “We are not quite sure yet, but the women’s leading group might run a pace somewhere between 2:16 and 2:18. There is a group as well that targets Olympic qualification, running sub 2:26:50 pace.“

“It is my goal to qualify for the Olympics on Sunday,“ said Gotytom Gebreslase, who surprisingly won her debut marathon in Berlin in 2021, then went on to become World Champion in the following year and took the silver medal at last year’s global championships in Budapest. Jurrie van der Velden explained that the Ethiopian federation usually selects the two fastest runners during the qualifying window and then picks the athlete who performed best at major championships as long as that athlete confirms good form. When Gebreselase ran the Nagoya Marathon in March, she did not finish. “I got stomach problems during the race and dropped out after 35k. Then I trained well and decided to run in Hamburg. I am in good form now and want to run sub 2:18 here. Perhaps I can attack the course record. I would think such a performance should be enough to get selected,“ said Gotytom Gebreslase.

Nienke Brinkman joined Hamburg’s elite field at short notice. The European bronze medallist from 2022 has still not achieved the qualifying time for the Olympics. She ran her PB of 2:22:51 in 2022, outside the qualifying period. A year ago, Brinkman clocked a fine of 2:24:58 in Boston, but this course is not record-eligible, and results do not count as qualifying times. However, it is a far easier task for Brinkman to achieve qualification in Hamburg than for Gebreslase. Reaching the qualifying standard 2:26:50 should be enough for the former Durch record holder.

A debutant could well be in the mix for at least a place on the podium: Irine Cheptai, the 2017 World Cross Country Champion, said, “I started preparing for my marathon debut in January, and training went very well. I think I will go with the second group on Sunday,“ said the Kenyan, who has already run a very fast and promising half marathon time of 64:53.

Among a number of German runners, Katharina Steinruck is probably the one who could produce the national highlight in Hamburg. She improved to 2:24:56 this winter and now hopes to break the family record: It was exactly 25 years ago when Katrin Dörre-Heinig, the bronze medallist of the 1988 Olympic marathon in Seoul, won the Hamburg Marathon with 2:24:35. For many years this remained the German marathon record. “It is my aim to break my Mum’s record, and it would be great if I could do it in Hamburg,“ said Steinruck.

Elite Runners with Personal Bests

MEN:

Getaneh Molla ETH 2:03:34

Bernard Koech KEN 2:04:09

Roland Korir KEN 2:04:22

Dickson Chumba KEN 2:04:32

Barselius Kipyego KEN 2:04:48

Brimin Misoi KEN 2:04:53

Philemon Kiplimo KEN 2:04:56

Oqbe Ruesom ERI 2:05:51

Haymanot Alew ETH 2:05:57

Tsedat Ayana ETH 2:06:18