athletics
World Cup hero Petros runs German marathon record in Valencia
Marathon runner Amanal Petros continues his success story after winning silver at the World Championships in Tokyo. In Valencia he improved the German record. Gesa Krause has to give up.
Vice world champion Amanal Petros wrapped himself in a black, red and gold flag in Valencia after his dream year and was then celebrated for his German marathon record. Less than three months after his sensational silver medal at the title fights in Tokyo, Petros set a national record in Spain with a time of 2:04:03 hours and thus secured the next coup.
“I’m so happy that I’ve now reached my goal,” said Petros, who had been preparing for the Valencia race at a high-altitude training camp in Kenya. Petros improved Samuel Fitwi’s previous German record by 53 seconds – and crowned his 2025 year. After 42.195 kilometers, he was only beaten by Kenyan John Korir (2:02:25 hours).
Petros overcomes mental hole
Petros had already caused quite a stir in September when he celebrated silver at the World Championships and narrowly missed out on marathon gold in a crazy photo finish. “I have to be honest, it wasn’t easy. There were many days where I fell into a hole,” said the 30-year-old on ARD after the race in Valencia.
The problems couldn’t stop him on the way to the next world-class performance. He got the German record back after about a year: Fitwi was two seconds faster than Petros’ old personal best at the same location in 2024.
Petros pulls over after 25 kilometers and Pfeifer vomits
In optimal conditions and on the super-fast track in Valencia, Petros started cautiously. He stayed in the chasing field for a long time before starting to catch up after around 25 kilometers. “Not everything went well,” said Petros, who nevertheless overtook all of his opponents on the second half of the route. Only Korir stayed ahead of the German.
In the last few kilometers there was simply an “awesome atmosphere,” emphasized Petros, who fled Ethiopia to Germany in 2012.
Hendrik Pfeiffer also ran a personal best in Valencia, but had to vomit at the finish. Pfeifer came eleventh with 2:06:46 hours, Fitwi (2:07:01 hours) took twelfth place as the third best German.
Krause gives up at premiere
Gesa Krause had a bitter marathon debut and had to give up. The German Athletics Association confirmed this when asked by the German Press Agency. Krause had set his sights on running under 2:30 hours.
It remains to be seen how the marathon career of the Hessin native will continue. Krause definitely wants to compete at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham, UK next August – then in the 3,000 meter steeplechase.
dpa
