Press Release - Marathon Hamburg - 4/21/22

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

                     Haspa Marathon Hamburg on Sunday
					
     Yalemzerf Yehualaw among strong field of elite runners in Hamburg

The Haspa Marathon Hamburg returns to its traditional spring date on Sunday 
for the first time since 2019 with probably the strongest elite fields in 
the history of the event. Last year's race was held under strict Covid 
regulations with less than 5,000 runners and almost no elite athletes. The 
event on Sunday will be the complete opposite: Including events at shorter 
distances organisers registered over 20,000 athletes from 65 nations and 
the elite fields boost eleven runners with personal bests of sub 2:08 and 
seven women who ran below 2:27. However the star name on the start list is 
not among them: Ethiopia's 10k world record holder Yalemzerf Yehualaw will 
run her much anticipated debut at the Haspa Marathon Hamburg.

Germany's biggest spring marathon, which will see its 36th edition, will be 
streamed live worldwide on Sunday from 9.20am at: 
www.haspa-marathon-hamburg.de 

"We are happy to be back in the spring with a large race and with a very 
strong elite field. I am really looking forward to some very good 
performances. We hope to see a women's course record on Sunday," said chief 
organiser Frank Thaleiser.

The city of Hamburg might well be the place to see a new marathon star 
emerge on Sunday. And it would not be the first time this happens in the 
"Hansestadt": Kenya's superstar Eliud Kipchoge won his marathon debut here 
in 2013 with 2:05:30 which is still the course record.

Could Yalemzerf Yehualaw start an extraordinary marathon career in Hamburg 
as well? The 22 year-old Ethiopian brings all the requirements and 
characteristics for success in the marathon. With a half marathon PB of 
63:51 she is the second fastest ever at this distance. Additionally 
Yalemzerf Yehualaw smashed the 10k world record this February with 29:14 in 
Castellon, Spain. 

"Yalemzerf has trained well and we are looking forward to a promising and 
interesting marathon debut," said Jurrie van der Velden, who is the elite 
coordinator of the Haspa Marathon Hamburg. Unfortunately Yalemzerf 
Yehualaw's flight to Hamburg was delayed so that she missed the press 
conference on Thursday. The Ethiopian could produce one of the fastest 
debuts ever and break the course record. Fellow-Ethiopian Meselech Melkamu 
is the current course record holder with a time of 2:21:54 from 2016. 
Despite running her debut Yalemzerf Yehualaw must be regarded as the 
favourite.

While the Olympic silver medallist of the London Games in 2021, Priscah 
Jeptoo of Kenya, is the fastest on the start list with 2:20:14 there are 
two women in the field who have won the Haspa Marathon Hamburg. Gadise Mulu 
is the defending champion and fellow-Ethiopian Dibabe Kuma, who took the 
race in 2019, is the second fastest on the start list with her PB of 
2:23:24. While the elite women often have their individual pacemakers 
Jurrie van der Velden hopes that a group of athletes will run together for 
at least the first half of the race. "The pace for this group will likely 
be between 70:30 and 71:00," he said.

Deborah Schöneborn and Kristina Hendel are the the top German runners in 
Hamburg. Schöneborn, who achieved a strong 18th place in the Olympic 
marathon last year, has a PB of 2:26:55. However she carried an injury 
during the winter months and is probably not yet at her best. Hendel has 
received German citizenship and hopes to be eligible to compete for Germany 
at the European Championships. Internationally at the moment she is still 
registered as Croatian. Kristina Hendel ran a 2:27:31 debut marathon last 
autumn and hopes to improve to around 2:25 in Hamburg.

Three men will be going to the starting line on Sunday knowing they have 
run faster than Eliud Kipchoge's Hamburg course record of 2:05:30. Since 
Guye Adola had to withdraw due to an injury fellow-Ethiopian Abebe Negewo, 
who was also known as Abebe Degefa, now heads the start lists with a PB of 
2:04:06 which he ran in Valencia in 2019. With Ethiopia's Tsegaye Mekonnen 
the winner of the Haspa Marathon Hamburg 2017 returns. He still is the 
unofficial world junior record holder with a time of 2:04:32. It was around 
half a year ago when Barselius Kipyego of Kenya clocked his PB of 2:04:48 
in Paris. 

"For a number of athletes this will be their first major international race 
since the start of the pandemic. We hope that they will do very well," said 
Jurrie van der Velden. "The weather looks good at the moment. If it is like 
this on Sunday we are optimistic to see times of around 2:05."

Philipp Pflieger, who has a personal best of 2:12:15, and Johannes 
Motschmann carry national hopes on Sunday. Motschmann ran 2:12:18 in 
Rotterdam last autumn and showed promising form recently at the Berlin Half 
Marathon where he improved to 61:45. As a number of other athletes he hopes 
to achieve the qualifying standard for the World Championships of 2:11:30 
in Hamburg.

Elite runners with personal bests

Men:

Abebe Negewo        ETH 2:04:06
Tsegaye Mekonnen    ETH 2:04:32
Barselius Kipyego   KEN 2:04:48
Dejene Debele       ETH 2:05:46
Simon Kipkosgei     KEN 2:07:07
Cybrian Kotut       KEN 2:07:11
Bernard Ngeno       KEN 2:07:18
Amos Mitei          KEN 2:07:28
Workineh Tadesse    ETH 2:07:42
Abrar Osman         ERI 2:07:46
Mustafa Kedir       ETH 2:07:49
Alfred Koech        KEN 2:09:01
Victor Kiplangat    UGA 2:10:18
Bazezew Asmare      ETH 2:10:51
Masresha Bere       ETH 2:10:55
Arturo Esparza      MEX 2:11:04
Philipp Pflieger    GER 2:12:15
Johannes Motschmann GER 2:12:18
Gasper Csere        HUN 2:14:34
Dario Castro        MEX 2:14:51
Marco Salami        ITA 2:14:57
Stephen Kissa       UGA Debut
Ronald Kirui        KEN Debut
Ibrahim Hassan      DJI Debut
Filimon Abraham     GER Debut

Women:

Priscah Jeptoo      KEN 2:20:14
Dibabe Kuma         ETH 2:23:24
Carla Rocha         POR 2:24:47
Tseginesh Mekonnen  ETH 2:24:50
Gadise Mulu         ETH 2:26:20
Alice Cherono       KEN 2:26:51
Deborah Schöneborn  GER 2:26:55
Kristina Hendel     CRO 2:27:31
Rosa Chacha         ECU 2:28:17
Andreia Hessel      BRA 2:34:55
Maria Sagnes Wagan  NOR 2:35:34
Camilla Elofsson    SWE 2:35:37
Yalemzerf Yehualaw  ETH Debut
Alia Mohamed        UAE Debut

More information about the Haspa Marathon Hamburg is available at: 
www.haspa-marathon-hamburg.de 
 
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