Hanover (dpa) – Too short a distance at the Hanover marathon on April 3rd could become a problem for the German champion Hendrik Pfeiffer.
The leading group around Pfeiffer over the 42.195 kilometers followed the half marathon instead of the marathon line unnoticed at an intersection and thus completed a distance that was around 88 meters shorter, said organization manager Stefanie Eichel to the NDR.
The problem was noticed later and subsequent athletes were guided correctly. Pfeiffer won the race in 2:10:59 minutes and thus ran the norm for both the World Championships (2:11:30) in Eugene in the USA in July and the European Championships (2:14:30) in Munich in August . The period for fulfillment ends on April 30th, on May 2nd and 3rd the marathon teams for the World and European Championships are nominated. A route error could therefore have consequences under certain circumstances.
Winner Pfeiffer relaxed
“We assume that by the end of the week we will be able to prove that the athletes have correctly completed at least one marathon distance in Hanover,” said a spokesman for the organization team. According to the speaker, Pfeiffer himself should be relaxed about the problem, since his own recording showed 42.5 kilometers. In the coming week, the route will be inspected by a recognized surveyor. “It’s about 20 to 30 meters, no more. Of course we very much hope that it will end well,” said Eichel.
The German Athletics Association (DLV) is currently assuming that “those athletes who were briefly misguided have completed the entire marathon distance and all results will be permanent”. A buffer is usually included in the route measurement. It is usually 42 meters, in Hanover it should have been a little more.