Marathon | German marathon runners are getting faster and faster

Richard Ringer (from) and Amanal Petros (2nd from right) want to ensure a historic race on Sunday. Photo: imago/Stefan Mayer Race director Jo Schindler doesn't hide the fact that he couldn't have imagined a better farewell gift. After 25 years, the native of Regensburg is organizing the Frankfurt Marathon for the last time, which in its 43rd edition will feature a meeting of the German elite on Sunday: European champion Amanal Petros (best time 2:04:03 hours), Samuel Fitwi (2:04:45) and Richard Ringer (2:05:46) start together at the Frankfurt trade fair.

“We started working on this constellation a year and a half ago,” reveals Schindler. His event is therefore more in demand than ever before: 19,676 starters have registered for the classic 42.195 kilometers alone. In the best case scenario, the three German aces should work together to break the European record of the Belgian Bashir Abdi (2:03:36).

Petros would have to stay almost half a minute below his German record, but he believes that is fundamentally possible. “I trained so well.” The only caveat: “It might be very cold and windy and it might rain. So I can't guarantee anything." The oldest city marathon in Germany is even better attended than the lighthouse event in Berlin at the end of September. Also because this year there was just 42 days between the race in the capital and the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham, where Petros stormed to gold on a demanding course on August 16th.

He simply ran away from the problems with issuing a visa for the native Eritrean - which was reportedly colossally underestimated by the German Athletics Association - in England. Looking back, the 31-year-old says that the main reason he "ran away 15 kilometers from the finish line" was because he had betrayed a weakness at the World Championships in Tokyo last year "when I turned around." Ultimately, only a few hundredths were missing from gold. That's why Petros, who came to Germany in January 2012 as an unaccompanied minor refugee from the embattled border region of Tigray, is only looking forward in the European Championship race.

This motto was also registered by his competitor and friend Richard Ringer, who won the European Championships in Munich in 2022 and left Petros in fourth place in the final sprint. The fact that German runners won the last two European Championships (and also took silver with the team) says a lot about a development that even organizer Schindler considered unthinkable a decade ago.

The 67-year-old, who sold his event agency to London Marathon Events, only wants one thing for his last race in an official capacity: “The German record should fall. Samuel promised that he would definitely go along with it. Richard approaches his races a little more cautiously, but has the strongest finish of all. I can't imagine anything better than putting another exclamation mark in terms of sport." The last German winner in the banking city was Michael Fietz in 1997 with a time of 2:10:59 hours.

According to Jörg Ullmann, the current upswing in German runners has many facets. »Competition stimulates business. We have never had such quality of athletes. Richard Ringer, who won the European Marathon Championships four years ago. Amanal Petros, who has made a sensational development. And Samuel Fitwi, who came second in Hamburg," says the running manager, to whom the 30-year-old Fitwi and the 37-year-old wrestler are under contract. As different as the characters are, there are similarities in this trio: "They not only have outstanding talent, but they are also prepared to focus their entire lives on sport."

A marathon professional has to make a lot of sacrifices in order to constantly work on endurance. Ullmann's thesis: "Only those who have all their great passion subordinate their entire life to running." Model figure Petros swears by preparing in the Kenyan running mecca Iten, which has already become a second home for him.

Even now he has come to Frankfurt almost directly from his difficult time in the East African highlands. The Kenyan athletes inspired him, he says. »There is joint training every day early in the morning and in the evening. It's like a culture. I learned to concentrate on the sport, i.e. training, eating, sleeping, and being mentally strong.«

In Frankfurt he wants to demonstrate this culture again. His motivation: »Sport is very important these days because it connects people – regardless of their skin color or religion. Sport is love, freedom and democracy.«

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