Laura Hottenrott starts in Frankfurt

The elite field is led by the Ethiopians Tigist Abayechew and Yeshi Chekole. Around two and a half months after her start at the Olympic Games, Laura Hottenrott (PSV Grün-Weiss Kassel) will run the Mainova Frankfurt Marathon.

“Due to the compact field at the top of the women’s field, we hope to see an exciting race and times of under 2:20:00 hours. Perhaps the course record set by the Kenyan Valary Aiyabei five years ago will even be broken,” says race director Jo Schindler.

Tigist Abayechew leads the start list with a time of well under 2:20:00. The Ethiopian surprisingly improved to a high-class 2:18:03 in Berlin two years ago and came third there. This makes her the fastest runner ever to be on a start list in Frankfurt. Yeshi Chekole will start the race with a personal best of 2:21:17, which she achieved in Seville in 2022. Four other runners have already achieved results of under 2:23:00 hours: Shuko Genemo (Ethiopia/2:21:35), Magdalyne Masai (Kenya/2:22:16), Kidsan Alena (Ethiopia/2:22:28) and Meseret Meleka (Ethiopia/2:22:52). Also to watch will be Hawi Feiysa, whose personal best is 2:23:36. The Ethiopian achieved a respectable sixth place at the World Cross Country Championships last year. She also has a high-class half marathon personal best of 65:41.

The fastest European on the start list is Laura Hottenrott. The 32-year-old surprisingly improved her time to 2:24:32 in Valencia last December and finished 38th at the Olympic Games in Paris in August. If Laura Hottenrott has recovered well from the tough race at the Olympics, a top-ten finish may be possible.

More than 25,000 participants across all competitions are expected at the Mainova Frankfurt Marathon again this year. The organizer is expecting over 14,000 registrations for the marathon distance, which is a significant increase on last year. In addition, thousands of spectators and numerous action points and bands along the route await the runners, ensuring Frankfurt’s largest street festival.

The race is an Elite Label Road Race of the international athletics association World Athletics. This means that the Mainova Frankfurt Marathon will once again be one of the top marathon races in the world in 2024.