Tanui, Toroitich target Vienna marathon records with Eritreans posing biggest threat
Reading Time: 2min | Fri. 15.03.24. | 14:15
Vibian Chepkirui clocked 2:20:59 in 2022 to set the course record
Kenyan duo of Rebecca Tanui and Shyline Toroitich have their sights set on lowering the course record when they headline the women’s field at the 41st edition of the Vienna City Marathon on 21st April 2024.
It took 19 years until the women’s course record of Italy’s late Maura Viceconte was finally broken in the Austrian capital in 2019. Kenya’s Nancy Kiprop improved the mark to 2:22:12. However, Kiprop’s time lasted much shorter than Viceconte’s as, in 2022, fellow Kenyan Vivian Chepkirui clocked 2:20:59.
Toroitich took the Enschde Marathon last year with a personal best of 2:22:45 while Tanui was the winner of the San Sebastian Marathon in 2022 with a PB of 2:23:09 and then also won in Venice.
Tanui will have the advantage of knowing the course of the Vienna City Marathon since she was fourth here last year with 2:26:34 in warm weather conditions.
The duo face the toughest opposition from Nazret Weldu and Dolshi Tesfu, both having already run faster than Vienna’s course record. 34-year-old Weldu clocked a national record of 2:20:29 when she took a very strong fourth place in the World Championships Marathon in Eugene in 2022.
She won the Daegu Marathon in South Korea with 2:21:56 in the same year and then placed sixth in Boston in 2023 with 2:23:25. Competing in a hot World Championships’ race in Budapest last summer Weldu finished eighth with 2:27:23.
Despite this series of strong performances Weldu still has not achieved the Olympic qualifying standard for Paris. She will want to make sure in Vienna that she runs fast enough to get into the Olympic race.
Tesfu, meanwhile, features a personal best of 2:20:40. The 24-year-old ran this time in her debut marathon when she finished ninth in Valencia in 2022. During the race, Tesfu ran the first half in 68:53, which is by far the fastest half-marathon time ever run by an Eritrean woman.
She then showed fine performances in her two marathons in 2023 as well. First she was runner-up in Rotterdam with 2:21:35 and then she finished 10th in a hot World Championships marathon in Budapest in August.
