Press Release - Vienna City Marathon - 2/19/19

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


                       Vienna City Marathon On 7 April:

       Tadesse Abraham wants to bounce back with a victory in Vienna
 
Swiss record holder Tadesse Abraham will run his next marathon in Austria. 
Organisers of the Vienna City Marathon confirmed the start of the 36 
year-old who holds a personal best of 2:06:40 and was runner-up in the 
European Championships' marathon in Berlin last summer. Returning to Vienna 
will be the winner of the race from 2016, Robert Chemosin. Kenneth Keter is 
another Kenyan who can challenge Tadesse Abraham in the Austrian capital. 
Including running events at shorter distances staged parallel to the 
marathon organisers expect more than 40,000 athletes for the 36th edition 
of the Vienna City Marathon. Entries for this IAAF Gold Label Road Race - 
the highest category in international road running - are still accepted 
online at: www.vienna-marathon.com
 
For Tadesse Abraham it is about bouncing back in Vienna. He competed at the 
Dubai Marathon in January, but did not reach the level he had hoped and 
trained for. Instead of breaking his personal best he had to be content 
with a 2:09:50 performance and tenth place in the United Arab Emirates. 
Since Tadesse Abraham is the fastest runner on the current start list he 
will run in Vienna with a different goal: "My main aim will be to win the 
Vienna City Marathon. However I want to run a good time as well," said 
Tadesse Abraham, who could become the first European male winner of the 
race for 18 years. Back in 2001 Luis Novo of Portugal took the race with 
2:10:28. Since then there were only African winners in Vienna.
 
"It is too early to speak about possible time goals, but I want to run 
faster than in Dubai," said Tadesse Abraham, who travels to his training 
camp in Addis Ababa this Wednesday. Apart from a 15 k test race in 
Switzerland in mid March he will stay in Ethiopia until a few days before 
the Vienna City Marathon. Originally from Eritrea Tadesse Abraham received 
Swiss citizenship in June 2014. Since then he has been among the very best 
European marathon runners. With a seventh place in the Olympic race in 2016 
Abraham was the strongest European in Rio. Qualifying for the Games in 
Tokyo next year is a major goal for the European half marathon champion 
from 2016.
 
A quicker time than Abraham's Dubai result will most certainly be needed to 
be in contention for victory in Vienna on 7 April. A runner who has the 
advantage of knowing the course and how to win in the Austrian capital is 
Robert Chemosin. In very windy conditions the Kenyan took the race in 2016 
with 2:09:48. "This is the beginning of a new life for me," Chemosin said 
after his triumph in Vienna. A year earlier he had shown that he can run 
considerably faster when he was runner-up in Warsaw in 2:08:05. The 30 
year-old also holds a very good half marathon personal best of 59:19.  
 
Another strong contender is 22 year-old Kenneth Keter. The youngster from 
Kenya ran a fine debut marathon in Frankfurt last October despite windy 
conditions, taking fifth place with 2:07:34. He will be eager to improve 
his time when he runs his second marathon in Vienna.
 
For more information please visit: www.vienna-marathon.com

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