Hamburg / Sachsenkam - Exactly 31 months after the German Half Marathon Championship in Freiburg in March 2019, Thea Heim was back at the starting line of a German championship in Hamburg - again in the half marathon. “It's nice to have a top race again. It's a completely different house number than the previous races, ”said Heim, looking forward to the comparison with the German elite.
And it turned out to be a truly memorable race: Not only was it the fastest half marathon in German athletics history for both men and women, Heim also had to muster all of her willpower to continue running after a major fall.
She finally reached the goal in fifth.
"That was a little too much excitement for my taste," said coach Norman Feiler, summing up the turbulent competition.
"Unfortunately for Thea it was only the gold medal in the team and not her 26th DM individual medal." As the reigning runner-up, the 29-year-old from Saxony, who starts for LG Telis Finanz Regensburg, was one of the medal candidates.
Kick in the legs and shove at 17 kilometers per hour
Shortly after the starting shot had sent the approximately 1400 participants onto the track, a top field of a dozen women formed. After a short time, the top favorite and Heim's Regensburg team-mate Miriam Dattke withdrew and did not give up the lead until the finish line. Heim did well in this group at first and quickly found her rhythm. But after three kilometers the mishap happened. In a right turn Heim got a kick from behind in the legs and a nudge. At over 17 kilometers per hour, it hit the asphalt hard. “It all happened so quickly,” the runner looks back at the moment of shock. “Suddenly I only felt the painful impact. I got up straight away, but my right leg, elbow and shoulder were grazed. I even thought for a momentwhether it makes sense to keep walking. But it worked to a certain extent. "
Katja Fischer "humanly fantastic"
Then a competitor came from behind and offered to help.
"That was incredibly helpful and fantastic," said Heim, "while the man who caused the fall just kept running, Katja helped me back into the race." Katja Fischer, even at a similar level to Heim, starts for him LAV Tübingen, and neither of them knew each other personally.
After Fischer had helped the Sachsenkamerin to make some connections, she dropped back and finally finished the race in eleventh place (1:16:17 h).
Heim had fallen back to 13th place due to the fall and started a furious race to catch up.
It got faster, kilometer by kilometer, and the last five kilometers were the fastest of the entire race.
Nevertheless, it was no longer enough for a medal.
Heim ran the fourth fastest time of her career in 1:14:57 hours, which ultimately meant fifth place, 30 seconds behind bronze (Hanna Gröber, Tübingen, 1:14:26 h).
All of them stayed below Sabrina Mockenhaupt's old course record.
Heim defends DM title with the team
A little consolation for a fall and a missed medal: Together with the superior winner Miriam Dattke (1:09:59 h) and Franziska Stemmer (1:22:28 h), Heim defended the team title of 2019. “With time, I'm very good satisfied. We had reckoned with a one-fifteen or sixteen after the many kilometers over the past few weeks. But to run a one-fourteen despite a fall shows me that we are well on target for the marathon, ”said Heim with her performance. “But of course I want a medal at a championship. That is my claim. "
Coach Norman Feiler shared his athlete's point of view, but was very satisfied with the performance: “I hope the wounds are only superficial.
But it was very difficult to find the rhythm and connection again at the top level after the fall.
She did an incredibly strong mental performance and caught up. ”But Katja Fischer's behavior also impressed him very much:“ I found that very noble and fair.
I've never seen anything like that in this area.
Without her it would have been difficult for Thea. "
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