The Düsseldorf Marathon on Sunday (6) saw a huge improvement regarding quality this year.
In the men’s race the winner’s time was sub 2:10 hours for the first time. Kenyan Bellor Yator won in 2:09:48, improving the course record by more than four minutes. The former record had been 2:14:06. For Düsseldorf this was the first result of international quality in the men’s race. In the women’s race Luminita Zaituc (Germany) achieved a hat-trick. In her third victory in a row in Düsseldorf she clocked 2:29:37.
MEN -
23-year-old Bellor Yator took the lead before the half marathon mark. “He dramatically increased the pace at this stage because he felt that the race had been much too slow for him”, said Christoph Kopp, who took over as elite race director with instant success this year.
At the end Bellor Yator won with a winning margin of more than a minute. Fellow countryman Samuel Nganga took second in 2:11:03 while Daniel Too (Kenya/2:11:10) was third. Fourth placed David Kemboi (Kenya/2:11:33) finished sub 2:12 as well.
WOMEN -
Luminita Zaituc defended her Düsseldorf title for the third time, but she had problems again during the race which forced her to stop for a moment. She suffered muscle problems.
Nevertheless Zaituc finished one minute ahead of second placed Melanie Kraus (Germany/2:30:38), who met the World Championships’ qualifying standard as well. Third place was taken by Chinese Dai Yanvan in 2:35:33.
Jörg Wenig for the IAAF
