Germany has named a team of eleven runners for the marathon at the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships from 7-12 August.
The women’s team is headed by 2016 Olympian Anja Scherl and Katharina Heinig, both of whom have recently ducked below the 2:30-barrier for the distance. Scherl finished fourth in the Osaka Marathon in January in 2:29:29 and Heinig was eighth in the Frankfurt Marathon last October in an identical time.
Heinig, whose mother Katrin Dorre-Heinig competed at both the 1986 and 1994 European Championships, will be making her third successive appearance at the European Championships. She contested the marathon in Zurich 2014 and the half marathon in Amsterdam 2016.
The German women’s team also includes Fabienne Amrhein, Laura Hottenrott and Franziska Reng.
Six male runners will represent Germany in the men’s marathon at the European Championships. After succumbing to exhaustion in the Berlin Marathon last September, Philipp Pflieger secured the qualifying standard in the Hamburg Marathon with 2:13:35 - four seconds faster than Hendrik Pfeiffer’s time in the Cologne Marathon last October.
The rest of the German team is made up of Tom Groeschel, Sebastian Reinwand, Marcus Schoefisch and Jonas Koller.
In recent years, Germany has enjoyed some success in the women’s marathon at the European Championships. Luminita Zaituc and Sonja Oberem won silver and bronze on home soil in Munich 2002 before Ulrike Maisch triumphed four years later in Gothenburg 2006.
Both marathons take place on the final day of competition on Sunday 12 August, starting and finishing on the 'European Mile' at Breitscheidplatz.
More information on the 2018 European Championships:
- The Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships will be part of the first multi-sport European Championships along with co-hosts Glasgow.
- It will be a must-watch, must-attend experience that elevates the status of European Champions, uniting existing European Championships to celebrate the highest honour in European sport and celebrating the defining moments that create Champions.
- It is the continent’s ultimate multi-sport event, an 11-day celebration of European sport staged every four years.
- Seven of Europe’s leading sports (athletics, aquatics, rowing, golf, cycling, gymnastics, triathlon) will be brought together for the first edition.
- The European Athletics Championships in Berlin will be staged 7-12 August. The six other sports will be staged in Glasgow through 2-12 August.
- 4500 athletes and 52 nations will compete across the seven sports.
- Potential TV audience of over one billion with millions more across multiple digital platforms.
- Over half a million spectators expected.