Linz Marathon 2015 Results: Men's and Women's Top Finishers
Kenyan runners dominated the 2015 Linz Marathon on Sunday, as favourites Anthony Maritiem and Sarah Jebet took home victory in the men's and women's races respectively.
Maritiem finished over two minutes ahead of compatriot Alfred Kering, with Ethiopia's Abraham Girma Bekele completing the podium, as shared by Global Sports Comm:
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The trio took an early lead in the opening stages, opting to abandon the pace-makers and turn the race into a proper marathon. The likes of Henry Sugut and Patrick Wieser were forced to give chase and were already down minutes at the first checkpoint, as it became clear the winner would be found in the leading group.
Maritiem was clearly in great form and soon abandoned the duo of Kering and Girma Bekele, finishing alone in a personal-best time of two hours, nine minutes and 39 seconds, per the event's official website. Edwin Kemboi, Austria's national champion, finished tops among the local runners.
As reported by APA (for the Salzburger Nachrichten, in German), Maritiem was ecstatic at winning his second marathon, although he struggled in the final kilometres due to finishing solo. His time fell over two minutes short of the course record set by Ukraine's Alexander Kusin in 2007.
Soy Cobarde shared the podium for the women's race:
Jebet and Irene Chepkirui stuck together until the 21-kilometre split, when the eventual winner changed her pace and started building a huge lead. The rest of the pack was already chasing by more than eight minutes at that point, and for a moment, it even seemed as if the world record was under threat.
But the pace of both Jebet and Chepkirui dropped considerably in the second half of the race, and Karin Freitag, the top Austrian runner in the women's category, even managed to gain ground on the eventual runner-up.
She managed to stay ahead of compatriot Cornelia Kopper, one of seven Austrian runners in the top 10.
With the bulk of the world's top runners in Boston for one of the most anticipated marathons of the season, Linz offered local heroes like Freitag and Kemboi the opportunity to shine in front of their own fans, and the Austrian athletes certainly didn't disappoint. The duo will undoubtedly be favourites to win this year's national championship at the Salzburg Marathon in May.
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