Press Release - Vienna City Marathon - 4/20/17

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

                      VIENNA CITY MARATHON ON SUNDAY:

            Shuko Genemo ready for another fast race in Vienna

A year after battling high winds during the Vienna City Marathon Shuko 
Genemo is back in the Austrian capital. Despite the severe conditions in 
2016 the Ethiopian won the race with a personal best of 2:24:31. Now she 
hopes for better conditions this time to further improve her personal best. 
However a possible attack on the course record of 2:23:47 might again 
depend on the weather. The Vienna City Marathon, which will see its 34th 
edition on Sunday, is an IAAF Gold Label Road Race.

"I want to run faster than last year," said Shuko Genemo during today's 
press conference. An improvement by the 21 year-old Ethiopian could finally 
bring down the course record of the Vienna City Marathon which stands for 
17 years. Back in 2000 Italy's Maura Viceconte clocked 2:23:47. Shuko 
Genemo's trip to Austria began with a huge surprise when she came off the 
plane: "It was the first time in my life that I saw snow!" Luckily this 
experience will not last long. Most of the snow that caught Vienna on 
Wednesday has already melted away and the forecast indicates a significant 
improvement for Sunday. It should turn sunny but it could be below 10 
Celsius at the start. The main weather threat might again be the wind. 
However it should be far less strong than a year ago.

While youngster Shuko Genemo hopes for a personal best and another win in 
Vienna there is one runner with a superior PB in the field: Fellow-Ethipian 
Meseret Mengistu took the Paris Marathon with 2:23:26 in 2015. She has 
already won another marathon this year when taking China's Xiamen race in 
2:25:58 in early January. However Mengistu was a bit reserved when asked 
about her goals for Sunday's race. "I had a foot problem during the build 
up for Vienna. I am fully recovered and ready to go, but I don't want to 
make any predictions," said the 27 year-old.

There are three Kenyans in the race who could challenge Genemo and Mengistu 
on Sunday. While Nancy Kiprop and Rebecca Chesire both feature personal 
best of sub 2:26 Angela Tanui is a debutant. She features a half marathon 
PB of 67:16 and showed fine form earlier this year. While Tanui hopes to 
run a good debut Nancy Kiprop targets a personal best. "My aim is to 
improve by one to two minutes on Sunday," said the 38 year-old Kenyan, who 
clocked her PB of 2:25:13 when taking second in Valencia in November last 
year. She combines training with a job as a teacher and hopes to open a 
school in the future.

Asked about the rivalry between Kenyan and Ethiopian runners Nancy Kiprop, 
who adopted five children when she was a young woman and in the meantime 
has another two of her own, answered: "I don't think there is that much 
rivalry in the marathon. Because of the long distance there always is some 
cooperation." However Shuko Genemo had a different view on this: "There is 
always rivalry. It is a competition and all of us want to win."

There will be less rivalry when Estonia's triplets Lily, Leila and Liina 
Luik will participate in the new 10 k race staged on Saturday. While the 
event includes the Austrian championships at the distance the Luik triplets 
are the only invited international athletes to mark the start of the new 
event.

Selected women elite runners with personal bests

Meseret Mengistu ETH 2:23:26
Shuko Genemo ETH 2:24:31
Nancy Kiprop KEN 2:25:13
Rebecca Chesire KEN 2:25:22
Helalia Johannes NAM 2:26:09
Roza Dereje ETH 2:26:18
Tizita Terecha ETH 2:28:02
Emma Quaglia ITA 2:28:15
Irene Chepkirui KEN 2:31:55
Angela Tanui KEN Debut

For more information please visit: www.vienna-marathon.com.

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