Press Release - Hannover Marathon - 4/12/24

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

                     ADAC MARATHON HANNOVER ON SUNDAY               

      Germans Amanal Petros and Domenika Mayer favourites in Hannover

National record holder Amanal Petros and fellow-German Domenika Mayer are 
the favourites in Sunday's ADAC Marathon Hannover. While Petros heads the 
start list with his PB of 2:04:58, which makes him the sixth fastest 
European marathon runner of all times, Mayer is number two on the list with 
2:23:47. Former Boston Marathon winner Sharon Cherop has a personal record 
of 2:22:28. However at the age of 40 it would be a surprise if the 
prominent Kenyan runner could still produce such a time on Sunday. 

Organisers of the 32nd ADAC Marathon Hannover have so far registered over 
25,000 athletes for their traditional spring race. Almost 4,000 of them 
will run the classic distance. The event is a World Athletics Label Race 
and stages the German Championships as well.

Amanal Petros returns as the defending champion and course record holder. A 
year ago he smashed Hannover's record with a time of 2:07:02. In the 
meantime he also improved his German record significantly when he clocked 
2:04:58 in Berlin last September. "I have trained for this race in Kenya 
since January," said Amanal Petros during the press conference in the town 
hall by the finish line on Friday. "It is my goal to improve my course 
record by may be 30 to 40 seconds. The temperatures seem to be fine, I just 
hope the wind will not be a problem." Asked to compare his shape to the 
Berlin Marathon last year Amanal Petros said: "The training for Berlin was 
really intense and I had two to three more weeks. But nonetheless my form 
is similar now."

Elite race coordinator Philipp Kopp, who took over from his late father 
Christoph Kopp, expects Kenyans Amos Mitei (PB: 2:07:28), Edwin Kimutai 
(2:08:15) and debutant Boaz Kipkemei to follow the 2:06:30 pace of the 
leading group on Sunday. 

A second group will target the Olympic qualifying time of 2:08:10. Sweden's 
Samuel Tesfamariam, who has a PB of 2:06:53, and 2:08:14 runner Polat 
Arikan of Turkey hope to book a ticket to Paris on the fast Hannover 
course. 

At the age of 40 Sharon Cherop wants to continue running strongly. It is 
well over ten years ago when she was among the world's leading marathon 
runners. The Kenyan was the bronze medallist at the World Championships in 
Daegu in 2011, then won the Boston Marathon in 2012 and clocked her PB of 
2:22:28 when she was runner-up in the Berlin Marathon in 2013. Last year 
she won the Milan Marathon and ran 2:24:56 for second place in Buenos 
Aires. 

While it remains to be seen if Sharon Cherop might be in a 2:25 shape 
Germany's Domenika Mayer seems to be ready for such a pace. The 33 year-old 
caused a major surprise when she smashed her PB at last year's Berlin 
Marathon with 2:23:47, ensuring her place among the German Olympic team. A 
foot injury sustained during that race prevented her from proper training 
until January. But since then Domenika Mayer has already run personal bests 
at 10 k (31:54) and the half marathon (69:46). 

"I am looking forward to running a marathon without any pressure. There is 
no qualifying time to chase and I don't have to prove anything," said 
Domenika Mayer, who surprisingly won her debut marathon here in Hannover 
two years ago with 2:26:50. She was then sixth at the European 
Championships in Munich in 2022. „Returning to Hannover gives me a very 
good pre-race feeling. I know that the course is fast." The minimum goal is 
to break the 2:25:45 course record which was established by Croatia's Matea 
Parlov Kostro a year ago.

A couple of women will try to qualify for the Olympic Games. With an entry 
limit of 80 runners set by World Athletics it looks like a sub 2:26:00 
might be required for a possible selection. Sardana Trofimova of Kirgistan 
and Ukraine's Viktoriia Kaliuzhna, who have personal bests of 2:24:38 and 
2:27:05 respectively, are among those who target a trip to Paris in August.

Elite runners with personal bests

MEN

Amanal Petros        GER 2:04:58
Samuel Tesfamariam   SWE 2:06:53
Amos Mitei           KEN 2:07:28
Polat Arikan         TUR 2:08:14
Edwin Kimutai        KEN 2:08:15
Victor Kiplimo       KEN 2:10:56
Hammington Cherop    KEN 2:10:58 
Remigijus Kancys     LTU 2:12:50
Boaz Kipkemei        KEN Debut

WOMEN

Sharon Cherop        KEN 2:22:28
Domenika Mayer       GER 2:23:47
Sardana Trofimova    KGZ 2:24:38
Viktoriia Kaliuzhna  UKR 2:27:05
Yevheniia Prokofieva UKR 2:28:06
Nora Szabo           HUN 2:28:25
Failuna Matanga      TAN 2:28:57
Serser Alice Milgo   KEN 2:30:35
Lilian Jebitok       KEN 2:31:31
Juliette Thomas      BEL Debut
Winnie Jebet         KEN Debut

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

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