Debutants Domenika Mayer and Hendrik Pfeiffer won the Hanover Marathon with strong performances and thus secured the German Championship title.
The 30-year-old Mayer (Regensburg), mother of two daughters, ran in her first race over the classic 42.195 km in 2:26:50 hours in twelfth place on the “eternal” German list of the best and clearly undercut the World Cup norm.
At the 30th edition of the race, which was last canceled twice due to the corona pandemic, Mayer prevailed at just above zero degrees ahead of the favorite Berliner Rabea Schöneborn (2:27:35). “I didn’t calculate anything, I just wanted to get to the finish,” said Mayer on NDR: “I ran free, it was so much fun.”
Pfeiffer (29/Wattenscheid) won in 2:10:59 hours ahead of Kenyan Josphat Kiptis (2:13:47) and thus ensured the first German success in Hanover since Stephan Freigang in 1999. “When I was alone at 30 km It got really tough with the wind. My goal was under 2:11 and the title, I’m incredibly relieved,” said Pfeiffer, who also undercut the World Championship benchmark.
The norm for the World Championships in Eugene in July is 2:11:30 (men) and 2:29:30 (women), for the European Championships in Munich in August 2:14:30 and 2:32 must be achieved. Led by the German record holder Amanal Petros (Wattenscheid/2:06:27) and Katharina Steinruck (Frankfurt/2:25:59), seven women and four men have already undercut the World Cup norm in the specified period since November 30, 2020. A double start at the World and European Championships is out of the question, Mayer is more likely to run in Munich.
Around 16,000 runners took part in the first major marathon of the year in Germany. Two years ago, no DM titles were awarded due to the pandemic. Last year, Alexander Hirschhäuser (Breidenbach/2:18:38) and Corinna Harrer (Regensburg/2:43:11) won the title fights as part of the Munich marathon.