Athletics: Amanal Petros pulverizes German marathon record

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Amanal Petros (archive picture): Own best time significantly increased

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Kai Peters / Jan Huebner / imago images

Amanal Petros has improved his German marathon record.

In Valencia, the 26-year-old crossed the finish line in eleventh place after 2:06:27 hours on Sunday.

With that he increased his best time by an impressive 51 seconds - and he was the first German runner to stay below 2:07:00 hours

A year ago, Petros had already reached his previous record (2:07:18) in the Spanish coastal city.

Six weeks ago he was also able to undercut the German record in the half marathon: In 1:00:09 hours, Petros improved Carsten Eich's 28-year-old record.

"That was another great thing that Aman delivered here," said coach Tono Kirschbaum, "even though it was definitely the windiest day of the year in Valencia".

In 2020, Petros had clearly broken the national record set by Arne Gabius in 2015 (2:08:33).

Before Gabius, Jörg Peter (2: 08.37) had held the record for 27 years.

The winner of the Valencia Marathon was the Kenyan Lawrence Cherono in 2:05:12 hours ahead of Chalu Deso from Ethiopia (2:05:16) and Philemon Kacheran from Kenya (2:05:19).

The fastest woman was the Kenyan Nancy Jelagat, who was the only one under 2:20 hours after 2:19:31 hours.

ara / dpa / sid