While the eyes of most marathon observers were on Paris and Rotterdam today, Ukranian Alexander Kuzin put in a stunning solo performance at the OMV Linz Marathon in Austria, setting the second-fastest time in the world this year.
Kuzin, 32, sliced close to three minutes off of his marathon personal best, running the fastest-ever marathon on Austrian soil: 2:07:33. His previous best was 2:10:09 set in Rome in 2006. He was timed at 63:36 at half-way and ran 63:55 for the second half. The race is held on a loop course and his performance was only topped by Mbarak Hassan Shami of Qatar who won at Paris today in 2:07:19.
Benjamin Itok of Kenya, the defending champion and course record holder, finished second in 2:12:06. Austrian Eva-Maria Gradwohl won the women's race in 2:37:36.
Kuzin is the husband of marathoner Tetyana Hladyr who won the 2006 Rome Marathon and was second at New York last November.
David Monti (Race Results Weekly) for the IAAF
