In the international elite field, Thea Heim breaks the EM standard for the first time

Thea Heim runs a personal best at the half marathon in Barcelona. Coach Norman Feiler is thrilled: "Thea kept up with the professionals."

Barcelona / Sachsenkam - Barcelona is usually associated with football: For decades, “Barca” in the Primera Division and Champions League has thrilled millions of fans. But last Sunday, the Catalan capital was the hub of global running. The “Mitjabarcelona” goes down in history as the fastest half marathon in terms of breadth. With numerous international runner stars among men and women, the start list already promised a top-class race; including the entire European elite.

Thea Heim was among them for the first time. "I've always wanted to run here. The half marathon in Barcelona is considered a fast route, ”Heim looked forward to her debut race in Spain. The winner-spoiled Saxonian was with her best time as 35th in the ranking. That alone made it clear that this time it was not about a podium finish, but a top time.

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The starting signal for home and 23,000 runners from all over the world was given on time at 8.45 a.m. "The crowd set my pace on the first kilometer," reports Heim. “Since I had to run in the crowd, I was too fast at 3:10 minutes per kilometer. I felt that at the end. "

After the quick start phase, Heim found her rhythm and was able to run in a group. She passed the ten kilometers after a strong 34:28 minutes - just 18 seconds over her best transit time over this distance. Coach Norman Feiler was also satisfied with the design of the race: “It started bravely and undercut the target 34:40 minutes. That was due to the first fast kilometer. ”And Heim continued to work his way forward. After 15 km, she had to do four kilometers of leadership work because all the men in the group had attached themselves to her. "It was tough because we had headwind on the last stretch of the route," says Heim. But she could keep her pace to some extent. After 1:13:23 hours she crossed the finish line with a new personal best (previously 1.13.57 h). The 27-year-old IT specialist thus undercut the A standard for the European Championship (1:14:00 h) by a whopping 37 seconds. "That makes me very proud. For the first time in my career I undercut an EM standard and on top of that I clearly improved my personal best, ”Heim said exhausted at the finish.

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At this time Heim took 26th place in this historic race, in which 35 women remained under 1:15 hours and the winner Ashete Bekere (Ethiopia) achieved an absolute world-class time with 1:06:36 h.

“It was a fantastic atmosphere on the track and it was incredible to run in this field. An absolute highlight of my career ”, Heim was completely enthusiastic. Coach Feiler was also delighted with the performance of his protégé: “That was the Champions League here. Thea has a 40-hour job and has also completed very high volumes in the past few weeks. With this achievement, it was rewarded. It is impressive how she can keep up with the professionals. ”But for Heim, this was only the first test after two months of training. The spring highlights will be another half marathon and then a marathon in late April or early May. Heim wants to attack her best times on both routes. The young runner has already worked out the prerequisites for this.

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