Anna Hahner was the runner in the national focus after German marathon races in Duesseldorf and Hamburg on the weekend. Only 22 years old she ran a fine debut,placing sixth at the METRO GROUP Marathon Duesseldorf with 2:30:14. She missed the national qualifying time for the Olympics by a mere 14 seconds but there is still hope that the German selectors will be kind on this occasion and reward her... 

Both course records were broken and a number of Olympic qualifying standards achieved at the 10th METRO GROUP Marathon Duesseldorf. Ethiopia’s Seboka Diriba Tola ran 2:08:27 and improved the two year-old mark by five seconds. He finished ahead of Duncan Koech (Kenya/2:08:33) and former Kenyan Abraham Kiprotich (France/2:08:35). In contrast the women’s winner caused quite a surprise: Agnes Jeruto...