Anita Baierl makes her marathon debut in Salzburg

“Salzburg will be my first marathon, a whole new experience for me. I want to get my best performance,” says Anita Baierl (TuS Kremsmünster) looking forward to her first race over the marathon distance. Since the 27-year-old from Upper Austria is entering new territory in the city of Mozart, she keeps the ball flat in her expectations: "I want to be able to say behind the finish line that I gave everything and got the best out of myself. My preparation went well and I'm in a good shape.” Nevertheless, the Salzburg Marathon almost inevitably has an attractive goal in mind: the national championship title in marathon running. "That would be a great success on my debut and is a great incentive for me," says Baierl.

Successful transition to the road

The multiple state champion at various distances, including four times in the 10km road run, decided to switch from the track to the road almost two years ago. At the half marathon debut as part of the Jedermannlauf 2014 in Salzburg, she immediately took second place behind Jennifer Wenth. Six months later, Baierl's fastest half marathon was successful in Berlin with a remarkable time of 1:13:23 hours. This puts the 27-year-old in third place on the ÖLV all-time list of the best in the half marathon. She had to cancel her planned marathon debut in Frankfurt last fall due to illness. Other health problems also affected her preparation for the 2016 competition year, in which she came third in the Wels half marathon and first place in the Linz marathon quarter marathon.

Karin Freitag wants to continue the series of titles

In the fight for the women's state championship title, there could be an exciting duel between Anita Baierl and Karin Freitag (LG Decker Itter). The Styrian, who lives in Tyrol, recently secured the state championship title in marathon running four times in a row, including in 2012 and 2014 at the Salzburg Marathon. Freitag is a marathon veteran and celebrated her greatest success last fall by winning the Graz Marathon. The Tyrolean, known as a “frequent runner”, ran her personal best a few weeks later in Frankfurt in a time of 2:42:26 hours. At the Vienna City Marathon 2016, the 36-year-old was the best Austrian in a time of 2:43:25 hours and celebrated a successful dress rehearsal to aim for the fifth state championship title in a row at the Salzburg Marathon.