German team rather disappointing at 25th World Mountain Running Championships 2009

September 9, 2009

The German team could not cause big surprises in the World Mountain Running Championships 2009 that were held in Campodolciono/ITA on 6th of September.

The race was held on a lap, i.e. on an uphill-downhill course. One lap was 4.3km long with a 275m difference in altitude. The junior women ran one lap, junior men and senior women ran 2 laps and senior men ran 3 laps. The start was 1750m above sea level, which made the races even more difficult for the athletes having to run at altitude. The course required many changes in rhythm since the surface was changing from grassy to rocky terrain.

The best placement for Germany was achieved by René Stöckert in the junior mens race with a 8th place, 2:24min behind eventual winner Xavier Chevrier (ITA).

In the junior category, Germany sent two complete teams and both junior men and women took 13th place.

In the senior womens category, Natascha Schmitt disappointed with 55th place out of 69 finishers and also in the mens category Uli Steidl (54th) and Manuel Stöckert (59th) could not fulfil the expectations in the field of 138 runners. Uli Steidl was World Mountain Running Champion in the Junior category in 1991 and last time he competed for the German Mountain Running team was in 2001, before running the IAAF World Championships Marathon in Osaka 2007. Now the 37-year old might find the way back to his roots. Manuel Stöckert is quite the opposite, being one of the strongest European runners on the mountain running circuit in the junior category of the last years, he could not make the optimal transition into the senior men category.

Timo Zeiler, the currently strongest German mountain runner, decided already at the beginning of the year that he is not going to run those Championships on a uphill-downhill-course and therefore the biggest German hope did not even start the race.

Selected results:

Men (13,020 km; +-825 m):
individual:
1. Geoffrey Kusuro (Uga) 54:51
2. Azerya Teklay Weldemariam (Eri) 55:45
3. James Kibet (Uga) 55:54
4. Bernard Dematteis (Ita) 56:02
5. Zemichael Andemichael Tesfamichael (Eri) 56:08
6. Debesay Tsige Behlbi (Eri) 56:17
7. Jean Baptiste Simukeka (Rwa) 56:17
8. Marco de Gasperi (Ita) 56:20
9. Martin Dematteis (Ita) 56:34
10. Ahmet Arslan (Tur) 56:34
…
54. Uli Steidl (Ger/ SSC Hanau-Rodenbach) 1:02:34
59. Manuel Stöckert (Ger/ TSV Ostheim) 1:02:55
(138 finishers)

Women (8,680 km; +-550 m):
individual:
1. Elisa Desco (Ita) 43:39
2. Valentina Belotti (Ita) 44:03
3. Maria Gracia Roberti (Ita) 44:23
4. Saraqh Tunstall (Gbr) 44:48
5. Hulya Bastug (Tur) 44:57
6. Anna Pichrtova (Cze) 44:59
7. Katie Ingram (Gbr) 44:59
8. Janna Vokueva (Rus) 45:21
9. Mateja Kosovelj (Slo) 45:23
10. Brandy Erholtz (USA) 45:23
…
55. Natascha Schmitt (Ger/LG Eintracht Frankfurt) 52:53
(69 finishers)

Junior Men (8,680 km; +-550 m):
individual:
1. Xavier Chevrier (Ita) 38:26
2. Muzaffer Bayram (Tur) 39:22
3. Alper Demir (Tur) 39:32
4. Brandon Lord (USA) 39:51
5. Luca Cagnati (Ita) 40:00
6. Jakub Bajza (Cze) 40:09
7. Candide Pralong (Sui) 40:12
8. Rene Stöckert (Ger/ TSV Ostheim) 40.50
9. Nuri Kömür (Tur) 40:59
10. Kelemu Crippa (Ita) 41:23
…
45. Fabian Alraun (Ger/ LC Steigenberger Laufteam) 44:55
52. Dominik Karl (Ger/ TV Ochsenfurt) 45:33
57. Philipp Reiter (Ger/ SC Ainring) 47:03
(68 finishers)

Team
1. Tur 14
2. Ita 16
3. Gbr 52
…
13. Germany 105
(16 nations overall)

Junior Women (4,340 km; +-275 m):
individual:
1. Yasemin Can (Tur) 22:18
2. Megan Morgan (USA) 22:35
3. Angelika Mach (Pol) 22:56
4. Zeynep Yok (Tur) 23:05
5. Özlem Kaya (Tur) 23:15
6. Racula Morjan (Rom) 23:20
7. Andrea Ioredana Ologu (Rom) 23:38
8. Katerina Berouskova (Cze) 23:40
…
38. Nora Coenen (Ger/ LG Krofdorf-Gleiberg) 28:02
39. Franziska Hühn (Ger/ LG Eintracht Frankfurt) 28:22
40. Klar Hildt (Ger/ TuS Eintracht Wiesbaden) 29:14
(42 finishers)

Team
1. Tur 5
2. Rom 13
3. Pol 20
…
13. Germany 77
(14 nations overall)