2023-04-20 12:06:25
The 40th Vienna City Marathon on Sunday (9.00 a.m., live ORF Sport +) offers a special national aspect in addition to the anniversary and the international excitement. Andreas Vojta as well as Julia Mayer are going for the Austrian record in their first “serious” run over the classic 42.195 km. In addition to good preparation, the weather should also be right. In the medium term, both local heroes have their sights set on qualifying for the Olympics in Paris 2024.
The development of the two domestic main protagonists in the running scene, at least in terms of the distance up to the current career highlight, is quite contrary. Vojta was addicted to running from a young age, soon joined a club and from then on ran all international distances from the stadium round. More than 20 years following his first VCM participation in the children’s races, he is now returning to the traditional event as an ÖLV star. Mayer, on the other hand, only found his feet from football in 2017, when he literally took all development stages at a rapid pace.
“I’m insanely good,” said Mayer full of self-confidence on Thursday at a VCM press conference in Vienna. “I did in two years what I would have done in 10 to 15 years.” In November, when she started her marathon training, she was afraid of it. “I mightn’t imagine doing so many circumferences and so many qualitatively long runs.” In the end it was a lot of fun. “It’s been a wonderful journey the last six months and I’m looking forward to showing and implementing what I’ve worked on in training.”
The 30-year-old revealed that she had completed a week of around 200 km. Until a few days ago, this was the case in the high-altitude camp in South Africa. The short schedule of the camp before the marathon is suitable for her, as has been shown on the basis of empirical values. Basically, she paid attention to all facets of the preparation, says Mayer. “The long tempo runs are important, there were four. We tried to simulate the marathon and the supply – the feeling of playing it through from 30 km. So the marathon on Sunday can be fun for me.”
Similar to Mayer, who ran a marathon in 2:46.35 hours in Vienna in 2020 to get to know without preparation, Vojta looks ahead. He had perfect preparation behind him, the 33-year-old was able to implement all training content. Compared to his previous athletics experience, however, it was new territory: “Going to the marathon feels a bit like entering a new sport. You have the feeling that the pace is too slow. ” Of course, the last marathon phase at kilometers 30 to 35 is still new territory for him, too, since last year he only “trotted” to the finish line as a VCM “pacemaker” in 2:23:21 hours.
The 1,500m Olympic competitor from 2012 chose a defensive approach to his training. “So more quality than quantity – because I have a lot of training kilometers in my legs.” With 140 km Vojta came to a weekly workload like Mayer in the regeneration phase, the focus was on long units and regeneration. “There is still potential for the future in terms of scope,” Vojta is sure that his performance in Vienna will not have been the highlight.
Of course, he approaches his real debut with the necessary respect. Vojta: “You can’t simulate everything 1:1. You can’t predict what will happen from kilometer 30 to 35 and it’s in the stars.” Of course, the ideal preparation time and his previous achievements over 10,000 m and in the half marathon make the Gerasdorfer optimistic that Peter Herzog will be able to undercut the national record of 2:10:06 hours set in London in October 2020. “For me, however, the Olympic marathon is the plan. The size range 2:10 will be necessary for that.”
Mayer would replace two ÖLV record holders at once, as Andrea Mayr ran 2:30:43 at the VCM 2009 and Eva Wutti 2020 in the Vienna Prater. The teacher on leave now wants to undercut this mark significantly, staying under 2:30 hours. “I am extremely optimistic that this will work.” This would also make her mother sweat, whose ambition is to watch and cheer for her daughter at various points along the route. And Mayer is also aiming for the 2024 Olympics, for which a state championship title in Vienna with a good time would bring good points.
The race stewards do a lot for Vojta and Mayer to support them in achieving their goals. “We have never supported an Austrian at the VCM, as we intend to do this time,” explained co-race director Johannes Langer. His colleague Mark Milde tried to form a group in the performance range of the two in order to drive a second next to the strongly national “pacemaker” track. Langer: “This dynamic should develop until the finish line.”
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