Preparing for her marathon debut in Berlin on 30 September Irina Mikitenko has shown some fine form recently. Having won the national half marathon championships on 2 September with 70:03 minutes she now took the German 10k road title (16 Sep) as well. In what was her final test for the marathon she clocked 32:34 minutes in Mannheim.
35 year-old Irina Mikitenko has done most of her recent training in high altitude in St. Moritz, Switzerland. She hopes to run well under 2:30 on her debut in Berlin.
In Mannheim, Mikitenko was well ahead of her rivals. Simret Restle took second with 33:46 while Susanne Hahn, who had competed in the World Championships’ Marathon just two weeks earlier, was third with 33:49. Alexander Lubina took the men’s 10k title with 29:24.
Jörg Wenig for the IAAF