In pleasant temperatures in Vienna, the 30-year-old co-favourite prevailed in 2:06:53 hours ahead of his compatriot Leonard Langat (2:06:59) and favorite Oqbe Kibrom (2:07:25) from Eritrea. Muteti, who improved his previous best time by almost two minutes, secured prize money of 15,000 euros. Vibian Chepkirui from Kenya triumphed in the women’s race with a course record of 2:20:59.
Austrian Ketema missed the EM limit
Ethiopian Getu Feleke’s men’s course record (2:05:41) set in 2014 remained out of reach. After the corona-related cancellation in 2020 and the comeback in September 2021, the event took place again as usual on the spring date in April. Chepkirui repeated last year’s win four seconds ahead of her compatriot Ruth Chebitok. Austria’s hopeful Lemawork Ketema clearly missed the EM limit (2:14:30) in 13th place in 2:15:42 hours.
The 28-year-old Timon Theuer had to give up after about 32 kilometers with a pained face and thus missed the targeted qualification for the European Championships in Munich in the summer. “It’s a kick in the ass that I’m not in top form today. Everything hurts, from my tendons to my hips,” said Theuer, who fell at 8 kilometers.
In any case, the surprisingly large leading group was full of energy, the Austrian top runners around Ketema and Theuer arranged themselves directly in a chasing group. The 17-man elite, supported for the first time in Vienna by a live split times screen mounted on a support vehicle, had a promising lap time of 29:57 minutes after ten kilometres.
The 1:03:21 set by the pacemakers for the half marathon was still on schedule for the targeted course record. But in the second part of the race over 42.195 km, gusty winds made the mission difficult. At 30km Kibrom launched an attack and was alone in the lead for a while. But Muteti divided his energy better and took the lead with six kilometers to go.
After 2019, the Austrian Mario Bauernfeind secured victory in the half marathon again with a personal best of 1:05:35. The 31-year-old prevailed over marathon record holder Peter Herzog, who returned after an injury break, with a lead of six seconds. “When you win like that in your hometown, it’s crazy and unbelievable, of course,” said Bauernfeind. Briton Victoria Kenny (1:16:16) was the fastest among the women.
The highlights to read in the live blog:
Source: Nachrichten
