Peter Herzog honored at the Salzburg athletes' choice

The bronze Leonidas, as the name suggests a lion trophy, has recently graced the living room of marathon runners Peter Duke (Union Salzburg LA). In this respect, this award is a special one for an athlete, after all, Salzburg sport is traditionally characterized by successful winter sports enthusiasts. Whether Hermann Maier, Marcel Hirscher or Stefan Kraft - the concentrated winter sports celebrities form the pride of Salzburg sports of the present and the recent past. But at least since the surprising win of the bronze medal in the national ranking at the European Marathon in Berlin in 2018, when Herzog made a significant contribution to the red-white-red team with tenth place in the individual ranking, and since the successful Olympic qualification for Tokyo 2020 with a marathon record of 2:10:57 hours, the man from Pinzgau has made a name for himself in the Salzburg sports landscape.

Turbulent marathon career

In today's edition of the Salzburger Nachrichten (Link to online story) Gerhard Öhlinger talks about the successful sporting career of the Salzburg marathon record holder. As a latecomer to the professional running scene, the half-marathon record of 1:03:22 hours at the World Championships in Valencia 2018 and tenth place at the European Championships in Berlin in his personal best of 2:15:29 hours at the time meant Herzog’s breakthrough. Turbulent times followed in the life of the man from Saalfelden, about which the SN reports: Sporting setbacks, change of coach from Peter Bründl to Hannes Langer, the birth of the daughter, a few days later the dream run in Berlin, which opened the door to the Olympic Games, the closure of the spring road running season due to the corona virus and the postponement of the Olympic Games - his career dream - by a year. "I've been pinning and training for this big goal of the 2020 Olympics. Who knows where I'll be next year?”, Herzog regrets that his good physical condition from winter training cannot be converted into competition results. Instead of a half marathon in Vienna, a training camp in St. Moritz and an Olympic adventure in Sapporo in August, running training without specific goals is currently the order of the day. A longer break from training is not in his interest: "As an athlete you are a different person without exercise," says the 32-year-old.
 

Leonidas Gala cancelled

Since 1985, the Salzburger Nachrichten has held the annual election for the Salzburg athlete and the Salzburg female athlete of the year. The first three are usually publicly honored at a glamorous gala evening. The spread of the corona virus prevented the festive setting at Salzburg Airport, planned for April 2nd, this year.
 
 
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