Melanie Krauss takes a come-from-behind victory in Frankfurt (© Victah Sailer)
Defending champion Melanie Kraus will return to the Dresdner Kleinwort Frankfurt Marathon on 26th October. The 33-year-old German had caused a major upset in last year’s race, when she beat Russia’s favourite Svetlana Zakharova into second place, winning with 2:28:56. The event is an IAAF Silver Label Road Race.
The race is set to see a thrilling German duel, because Sabrina Mockenhaupt has also entered, and so has last year’s third place finisher Kirsten Melkevik Otterbu (Norway), who has run 2:29:12, will come back to Germany’s oldest city marathon.
Making it almost a German Championship race Claudia Dreher will also compete in Germany’s financial capital.
Kraus reserves energy for Frankfurt?
Melanie Kraus had recently placed 38th in the Olympic Marathon in Beijing. But running on the track inside the stadium at the end of the race her speed suggested that she had some reserves left.
So the signs are good as just two months after placing 20th in the 2007 Osaka World Championship Marathon, which took place in much warmer and more humid conditions than the one in Beijing, Kraus came to Frankfurt and clocked 2:28:56. This year Klaus also has two more weeks to prepare between races.
It is the goal of Kraus to again run well under 2:30 on 26th October, which would break the national qualifying time for the World Championships in Berlin next summer. Her personal best stands at 2:27:58, which might be in reach.
If the expected duel with Sabrina Mockenhaupt materializes it could be a very fast race.
Mockenhaupt, a 27-year-old, who has run her best major championship race at the Olympics where she placed 13th in the 10,000m with a personal best of 31:14.2 had run her marathon debut in Cologne a year ago, when she won with 2:29:33. It is her aim to improve this mark on the fast Frankfurt course. Last Saturday Mockenhaupt clocked a very promising time at the German 10k championships. Finishing second behind Irina Mikitenko she ran 31:50 minutes in cool and wet conditions in Karlsruhe.
Entry figures for the Dresdner Kleinwort Frankfurt Marathon are still up by around 10 percent compared to a year ago. In 2007 a record number of 11,507 marathon runners had entered the race. Adding all other running events the total field had 18,302 athletes. So the Dresdner Kleinwort Frankfurt Marathon could well reach the 20,000 barrier for the first time in its history. Entries for the race are still possible.
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