Leonid Shvetsov wins the 2007 Comrades Marathon, 17 June 2007 (© AFP / Getty Images)
Russian record holder Leonid Shvetsov will lead the chase for the course record in Sunday’s 9th edition of the Morgenpost Dresden-Marathon (21). He is by far the fastest runner in the field with a personal best of 2:09:16 (1997).
Shvetsov was 13th in the 2004 Olympic Marathon in Athens and a year earlier had placed second in the 2003 Frankfurt Marathon (2:09:33).
This year Shvetsov won the ultra distance 89,3 kilometres Comrades Marathon (down run) in a record time of 5 hours and 20 minutes from Pietermaritzburg to Durban, South Africa on 17 June 2007, breaking the 21-year-old 'down run' record set by Bruce Fordyce in 1986.
Adding all running events on Sunday about 7500 athletes are expected to take part in the Morgenpost Dresden Marathon.
Kenyan Joseph Talam returns to defend his title having clocked a course record of 2:15:26 in 2006 but has so far only a 2:19:03 finish in Vienna earlier this year.
The strongest field signed so far for the race in Dresden will see more Kenyans in with a chance. Emmanuel Lagat and Josphat Rotich have personal bests of sub 2:17 while debutants Edwin Yano, Dominic Ondimu Nyabuto and Joel Kipchumba Jerutich could be in with a surprise. Nyabuto and Jerutich are coached by German Dieter Hogen who works with a number of Kenyan world-class marathon runners. Hogen had formerly been the coach of Uta Pippig, who won the marathons of Boston, Berlin and New York.
The women’s race on Sunday will probably see a duel between Remalda Kergyte (Lithuania) and Kateryna Karmanenko (Ukraine). Kergyte won the Dresden Half Marathon two years ago and then returned in 2006 to take second in the marathon. At an age of only 22 years she has improved her personal best to 2:49:27 this year. It is her aim to further improve this time on Sunday. Kateryna Karmanenko is even one year younger than Remalda Kergyte. And the Ukrainian has been faster as well. Her personal best stands at 2:46:33 so far.
Jörg Wenig for the IAAF
