First male elite athletes announced. High class race for victory is on.
Oqbe Kibrom will return to the start line of the Vienna City Marathon on 19th April hoping to become the first Eritrean runner to win the men’s race of the prestigious event at his second attempt. Kibrom was third at Austria’s most spectacular road race in 2022 and heads the current start list with a personal best of 2:05:37.
Organisers of the 43rd Vienna City Marathon, which is a World Athletics Elite Label Road Race, have registered 13,000 runners for the classic distance. Adding races at shorter distances during the two-day event the record total of entered athletes is over 46,000.
When Oqbe Kibrom raced in Vienna four years ago it looked like he could make history. Once the last pacemaker dropped out after the 30 k point he surged ahead and seemed on course to become the first Eritrean to win in the Austrian capital. However Kibrom, whose manager is the Swiss record holder Tadesse Abraham, had tried too hard. While he could not hold the pace the eventual winner Cosmas Muteti of Kenya came from behind and passed him with five kilometres to go. Kibrom finished third with 2:07:25.
With three sub 2:06:00 times in his career so far Oqbe Kibrom has consistently produced fine marathon performances. While Vienna stands out because it was his best race with regard to a podium finish the Eritrean clocked his personal record of 2:05:37 in Berlin when he was eighth two years ago. In 2025 he ran another fine marathon taking fourth place in Daegu, South Korea, with 2:06:04. The time might be right now for the 28 year-old to achieve a first marathon victory.
Oqbe Kibrom will be challenged by two fellow-Africans who have also clocked their personal bests two years ago: Ethiopia’s Tafese Delegen ran 2:06:11 in Seville and Stanley Kurgat of Kenya clocked 2:07:05 in Berlin, finishing seven places behind Kibrom. A runner who achieved his PB more recently is Albert Kangogo. The Kenyan was runner-up in Mersin, Turkey, in December with 2:07:26. Kangogo knows the Vienna City Marathon well. He was third here two years ago in 2:10:44.
An Austrian athlete could produce a strong performance: Aaron Gruen caused an upset in spring last year, when he became the first national runner to clock a sub 2:10:00 time in the marathon. The 27 year-old ran 2:09:53 in Congers, New York, improving by almost five minutes. In the build-up to the Vienna City Marathon Gruen ran a promising 61:14 half marathon PB in Houston this January. However he has to balance marathon training and his duties as a student at Harvard Medical School in Boston.
“These runners have achieved top performances that are well above my own personal best. The race therefore promises a very high sporting standard. For me, it will be a real challenge to hold my own in the field as a whole. I will give my best and I’m already very much looking forward to Vienna and to the race,” he commented.
VCM News / Jörg Wenig / media release
