Guenther Weidlinger of Austria.

Austria's Guenther Weidlinger will be aiming to finish under the Marathon qualification mark of 2:16.00 for 2010 European Athletics Championships in Barcelona, Spain, at the Frankfurt Marathon in Germany on Sunday 25 October. 

The 31-year-old Weidlinger, who registered his personal best 2:12.39 in Vienna on his Marathon debut in April, however conceded that the Austrian record of 2:12.22 may have to wait for some other time.

"I was injured for over three months during the summer and that has set my preparation back although my form right now is very good. I'm going to be running a cautious race, not planning to attack the Austrian record," Weidlinger told the media at a press conference in Frankfurt.

After a distinguished career on the track as a steeplechaser that included reaching the Olympic finals in Beijing, Weidlinger started with the Marathon only in April on his home turf in Vienna.

"I learned a lot from Vienna. I drank very little and won't be making the same mistake on Sunday. I shall also make sure I know the course better, and shall also be wearing different shoes. These are the lessons, I learned in Vienna," he said.

He is confident that this Marathon education will bring him success at next year's European Athletics Championships.

"The road is my home now, no more track races at international level for me. I am pretty confident that I can run under 2:10 and that one day I'll look at a results' list and see the name of Guenther Weidlinger with 2:08 beside it," he added.

Defending champion Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot on the other hand was confident of retaining his title.

"When I look at the start list, I can see there are a lot of winners in the race and the quality is very high but I'm confident I can retain my title," he said.

The women's field includes prominent names like Kenya's Agnes Kiprop and Ethiopia's Firehiwot Dado, who both won big spring Marathons this year. While Kiprop took the Turin Marathon, Dado won the women's title at the Rome Marathon.

At the 28th edition of Germany's oldest city Marathon organisers are expecting a record entry of up to 13,000 runners.

More information is available online at: www.frankfurt-marathon.com