Bronze and gold at the Borealis Half Marathon in Linz
Tina Fischl runs confidently to bronze and gold at the Borealis Half Marathon in Linz
11,060 participants from 74 nations, well over 50,000 spectators, cloudy skies with a light breeze – that was the 21st Oberbank Linz Danube Marathon on April 16, 2023!
Endurance athlete Tina Fischl had a lot planned for the half marathon in Linz. In 2014 she was able to run in a victory here and in 2015 a new personal half marathon best time.
The external conditions were almost perfect for a fast race, but the start, for which the highway bridge was closed, was very turbulent.
The starting signal was given at precisely 9:30 a.m. and the top field immediately set a very high pace, as the first 2-3 km went slightly downhill from the highway into the city center. The endurance specialist Tina Fischl from WSV Otterskirchen again took up the challenge at this big event. Fischl approached the race in an experienced manner and did not let the high pace upset her at the beginning of the race. In the women’s main field, she was thus positioned for a long time on a good fourth place.
The course through the city of Linz is not to be underestimated, Fischl already knew that from previous years, as it is always slightly wavy here due to bridges and underpasses and some higher meters had to be overcome. Also, certain sections of the course are very susceptible to wind. In those areas Fischl tried to get some slipstream from a fast group of men in front of her. Until kilometer 10, the personal trainer from Fürstenstein held back a bit to avoid a major drop in performance in the second half of the race. Then Fischl’s pace was stepped up again a bit and after a short time she managed to leave the Austrian Michaela Pilat, who was in third place at the time, behind her.
It was a really tough race that was held here in the middle of downtown Linz. Fortunately, there were thousands of spectators along the course that loudly motivated the runners.
The distance between her and the second-placed top runner from Slovakia was also getting smaller and smaller. Fischl had visual contact and continued to catch up. On the last kilometer of the course through the pedestrian zone of Linz she tried everything to make up another place. The partly wet cobblestone surface was very difficult to run here and thus only 20 seconds were missing on second place at the finish line.
The fastest German athlete Tina Fischl, with her time of 1:21:55 hours, was overjoyed at the finish line and was quite positive about the race, since only the Australian Vanessa Wilson and the Slovak Katarina Lovrantova were faster. Moreover, Tina Fischl won the age group classification of the women W45 clearly with several minutes ahead.
“For me it was interesting to see how fast I can currently run on a flat half marathon. Of course, maybe I should have tightened my pace a bit earlier. But my training is focused on mountain and trail running and I’m really looking forward to the upcoming events in the mountains.” says Tina Fischl.
Viele weitere Infos zum Rennen unter: https://www.linzmarathon.at/