Jeptoo to battle Yalemzerf for Hamburg marathon title

Olympics and World Athletics women's marathon silver medalist Priscah Jeptoo leads a stellar field of women marathoners set to battle for the Haspa Marathon Hamburg set for Sunday 24 April. 

The London Olympics medalist heads to the race as the fastest on paper with a Personal Best (PB) time of 2:20:14 set when finishing third in the 2012 London marathon, a performance that earned her a place on the Kenyan Olympics team. 

While Jeptoo is the fastest on the start list, she facea stiff competition from two former winners of the race including Gadise Mulu, the defending champion and Dibabe Kuma, who took the race in 2019 and is the second fastest on the start list with her PB of 2:23:24. 

While the elite women often have their individual pacemakers Jurrie van der Velden hopes that a group of athletes will run together for at least the first half of the race. “The pace for this group will likely be between 70:30 and 71:00,“ he said.

Focus has, however, been cast on world 10km record holder Yalemzerf Yehualaw who is making her debut in the classic distance. 

The 22 year-old Ethiopian brings all the requirements and characteristics for success in the marathon. With a half marathon PB of 63:51 she is the second fastest ever at this distance. Additionally she smashed the 10k world record this February with 29:14 in Castellon, Spain. 

“Yalemzerf has trained well and we are looking forward to a promising and interesting marathon debut,“ said Jurrie van der Velden, who is the elite coordinator of the race.

The Ethiopian is expected to produce one of the fastest debuts ever and break the course record. Fellow-Ethiopian Meselech Melkamu is the current course record holder with a time of 2:21:54 from 2016. 

Deborah Schöneborn and Kristina Hendel are the the top German runners in Hamburg. Schöneborn, who achieved a strong 18th place in the Olympic marathon last year, has a PB of 2:26:55. However she carried an injury during the winter months and is probably not yet at her best. 

Hendel has received German citizenship and hopes to be eligible to compete for Germany at the European Championships. Internationally at the moment she is still registered as Croatian. She ran a 2:27:31 debut marathon last autumn and hopes to improve to around 2:25 in Hamburg.

Elite start list

Priscah Jeptoo KEN 2:20:14

Dibabe Kuma ETH 2:23:24

Carla Rocha POR 2:24:47

Tseginesh Mekonnen ETH 2:24:50

Gadise Mulu ETH 2:26:20

Alice Cherono KEN 2:26:51

Deborah Schöneborn GER 2:26:55

Kristina Hendel CRO 2:27:31

Rosa Chacha ECU 2:28:17

Andreia Hessel BRA 2:34:55

Maria Sagnes Wagan NOR 2:35:34

Camilla Elofsson SWE 2:35:37

Yalemzerf Yehualaw ETH Debut

Alia Mohamed UAE Debut