Heavy Rain Threatens Amanal Petros’s Record Attempt in Frankfurt

Amanal Petros heads into Sunday’s Frankfurt Marathon as the fastest man in the deepest men’s field the race has ever put together, with his own German record of 2:04:03 and Bashir Abdi’s European record of 2:03:36 both on the table. We laid out that field last week. Two days out, the weather is the bigger worry. Organizers said in a pre-race release on Friday that if the rain and wind of the past few days carry into Sunday morning, the records will be out of reach.

The UK Met Office forecast does not give them much hope. It puts the chance of rain in Frankfurt at 95 percent or higher from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and still 70 percent at 11 a.m., with temperatures between 9 C and 11 C and winds of 9 to 16 mph (14 to 26 km/h) that only ease as the morning goes on. Coverage on hr-fernsehen begins at 9:55 a.m. local time.

Petros, the European champion from Birmingham, did his build in Kenya and sounded confident in the release. “My training in Kenya went very well. If the weather is on my side, it could happen,” he said. “I have been dreaming of breaking the European record for several years now.”

Samuel Fitwi, who ran 2:04:45 in Hamburg in April, plans to go with the front group and thinks the national record is in play on a good day. “If the weather is good, the German record is within reach on the flat course in Frankfurt,” he said.

Richard Ringer has had a harder few months. The 2022 European champion, whose 2:04:47 for eighth in Boston came on a course that does not count for records, picked up a muscle problem after this summer’s European Championships. “I then took quite a risk preparing for Frankfurt, but thankfully it worked very well. I do not expect to be running right at the front on Sunday and will probably go with a second group,” he said.

Benard Biwott, who won here on his debut in 2024, has put a number on his own race. “My aim is to win on Sunday. I think I can achieve a time of around 2:04:00,” the Kenyan said.

Yimer Returns Four Weeks After Berlin

Zeineba Yimer comes to Frankfurt just four weeks after stomach problems forced her out of the Berlin Marathon. The Ethiopian, whose 2:18:47 is the quickest best among the women, said she wants a personal best and Hawi Feysa’s course record of 2:17:25. Betsy Saina, in her first marathon since a maternity break, is aiming to reach halfway in 70:00, and Kenya’s Marion Kibor is targeting sub-2:20.

Blanka Dörfel, making her debut, won’t be checking splits at all. “I will be running without a watch and will trust my instincts,” the 24-year-old German said. The fastest debut by a German woman is Melat Kejeta’s 2:23:57 from Berlin in 2019.

Further back in the men’s race, Mark Kiptoo, the 2014 winner, is now 50 and going after the M50 world best of 2:19:29, which South Africa’s Titus Mamabolo has held since 1991.

Sunday is also Jo Schindler’s last race as race director, and it comes with a record 19,720 entries from 128 nations. “We are absolutely delighted with this record number of entries,” Schindler said.