Hendrik Pfeiffer had 42 kilometers in his legs but still had enough strength for the red carpet.

He grabbed his ears with both hands and asked the audience in the Frankfurt Festhalle to make more noise.

It was so loud during the final sprint of the German champions to the finish of the 39th Frankfurt Marathon that you could hardly hear your own words.

Pfeiffer smiled as he crossed the finish line, then posed in a muscular pose in front of a sponsor wall - and with his gestures and facial expressions inevitably gave the impression that someone had just finished seventh with a time of 2:11:28 hours, who could have run a little faster.

That was actually how it had been planned.

But the 29-year-old runner from TV Wattenscheid was not the only one

David Lindenfeld

volunteer.

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In the men's race, Gebru Redaghne and Martin Kosgey, who started the race as the fastest runners in the field, did not make it onto the podium.

Somewhat surprisingly, first place went to Brimin Misoi from Kenya, who beat his best time of 2:06:11 hours by two and a half minutes - in Nairobi at an altitude of almost 1700 meters this year he also won a marathon in 2:08:41 hours would have.

The Kenyan Selly Kaptich, who had announced that she wanted to attack the course record, won the women's race.

With her time of 2:23:11 hours she missed this by four minutes.

Like the second fast German in the field, Filimon Abraham, Pfeiffer had set himself the goal of undercutting the norm for the 2023 World Championships in Budapest.

Both should have finished after 2:09:40 hours.

The duo stayed on track until halfway through the race, working together in a group.

"But it got pretty warm out the back," said Pfeiffer.

First he distanced himself from Abraham, who did not finish the second marathon of his career.

Then Pfeiffer overtook one or two Africans whom he had "wanted to annoy", as he said before the race.

“I played the role of the hunter well.

But the last ten kilometers hurt.” That's how it felt for everyone on this warm Sunday.

"We had a summer marathon in the fall," said race director Jo Schindler,

Race of shattered dreams

It was a bitter race of shattered dreams: Laura Hottenrott, the fastest German in the field, canceled at short notice because of an ear infection.

Thea Heim, the second fastest German, did not finish like Abraham, so that in the women's category Corinna Coenning, a completely unknown amateur, ran the fastest time - and later was not only happy about her great success, but also about the fact that she is now a teacher just a week's vacation coming up.

The great luck for the organizers in this difficult year with the World and European Championships was that Pfeiffer decided at short notice to start in Frankfurt because they didn't want to include him in the elite field in New York next Sunday.

Pfeiffer had already heard a lot about the Festhalle and all that is surrounding it, which is unique with the walk-in over a red carpet.

In 2015, Arne Gabius ran a German record (2:08:33) here – this is still the second-best German time.

“It had an absolute pull effect.

It showed where things can go and was also a great motivation for me,” says Pfeiffer.

He explains why more Germans are now able to come close to these times by saying that everyone has become “much more professional”.

“We have the courage to go to Kenya.

Not just three or four weeks, but three months,” says Pfeiffer, referring to the high-altitude training camps in East Africa.

Nine out of ten times he was "taken apart" there at the beginning.

"We hadn't had this courage before."

“The finish in the Festhalle made up for everything”

Although he missed the World Championship norm, Pfeiffer was happy with his debut in front of the Skyline and the third fastest time of his career: "It's a great time that rounds off a great year with the German championship title and the European runner-up title with the team.

My year couldn't have gone any better." The fact that he was still so true to himself at the finish line and could smile was something Pfeiffer didn't want to see as a missed opportunity, but rather as an expression of his strength: "The fact that I'm standing at the back like this is a good thing Sign.

I'm in good shape," he said.

More was not possible with the temperatures.

Pfeiffer was therefore at peace with himself at the end of this sweaty day, which caused many to collapse at the finish line.

"The finish in the Festhalle made up for everything,"

Since the trip was already booked before he was signaled that he would not start in the elite field, Pfeiffer is now flying to New York this week.

He also wants to run the marathon there when his body has regenerated sufficiently by then.

"I can still manage a 40 jog," said Pfeiffer and laughed.

That would mean between 3:30 and 3:50 minutes per kilometer for him.

He just wanted to enjoy the race.

Frankfurt, as Pfeiffer emphasized once again, was not a B solution for him, but an "equivalent option".

In the future he sees himself here again at the starting line.

With a new attempt at times in the range of 2:09 hours and below?

"The 2:09 will definitely fall sooner or later." His announcement that he wanted to run it this time in Frankfurt was not unrealistic,

said Piper.

"The shape was there." Only the weather didn't cooperate.