photo: Herbert Steffny
What a week: Became a German citizen on Monday, was fastest German at the Berlin Marathon on Sunday!
I had planned a lot for this run – and my plan worked out. My goal was to stay under 2:10. I was even able to improve in the second half. 2:09:06 meant 11th place in an absolute world class field. In my second marathon I also broke the World Athletics Championships standard for Budapest 2023. It was overwhelming to be greeted by my son Matheus at the finish line after being in the training camp for so long. I am now confident that I will be able to further improve my performance. My big goal is still the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024.
Congratulations to Eliud Kipchoge for his fantastic new world record! Many thanks to my family and everyone who believed in me and supported me and continues to do so!
By the way, the photo of me running through the finish line was taken by running legend Herbert Steffny. Thank you very much! Herbert won the Frankfurt Marathon three times in the 1980s and 1990s and finished third in the New York Marathon in 1984. As a trainer, he has been giving running seminars for over 30 years and coached, among others, the then Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer to compete in his first marathon. Since 2004, his bestseller “Das große Laufbuch” (Südwestverlag, 448 p.) has been standard reading for runners. After his running career, the multi-talented Herbert has also worked as a journalist and sports photographer. For many years, the biologist has also focused his telephoto lenses on birds around the world. His work “365-Tage-Vogelkalender 2023“ (365 Day Bird Calendar 2023) (Südwestverlag) was created from his extensive archive. More info at www.herbertsteffny.de