European Athletics (EAA) – News – Ukraine’s Sitkovskyy runs fastest European marathon of 2011

Ukrainian distance runner Oleksandr Sitkovskyy won the Belaya Tserkev Marathon in his home country in 2:09:26 on Sunday, the fastest time by a European runner this year.

It is also a course record and personal best for the 33-year-old runner, whose previous best result was 2:10:18 when he finished second in Torino three years ago.

He will be hoping that his performance will be good enough to get him selected for the 2012 Olympic Games and he should go to London with a point to prove after failing to finish the marathon at both at the last Olympic Games in Beijing and also at the European Athletics Championships last summer.

The second man home was Ukraine's Ivan Barbaryka in 2:12:48. The women's winner was Russia’s Mariya Kiseleva in 2:38:43.

Belarus took the women's honours at the prestigious and historic Kosice Marathon in Slovakia on Sunday, with Maryna Damantsevich taking more than a minute off her best when she won in 2:33:53.

Damantsevich was part of the leading group that went through the halfway point in a relatively modest 1:17:07; owing to the male pacemaker dropping out injured at 15km and unseasonally warm weather with saw the temperature gauge hover around 20 degrees.

After some surges by various Ethiopian runners, Damantsevich was out on her own from 35km, running a negative split for the second half of the race.

The 26-year-old has now won four of her five marathons since she started concentrating on longer distances at the start of last year, also crossing the line in front in Riga and Poznan last year and Lodz earlier this year.

“I wanted to run faster but it was not possible. This was my toughest win so far. My main aim is to qualify for London Olympics," said Damantsevich on Sunday.

Kenya's Elijah Kemboi won the men's race in 2:11:15 while Slovakia's foreign minister and keen runner Mikulas Dzurinda finished his 27th marathon in a respectable 3:30:35 for 198th place in the men's race.

In total, 6600 runners from 38 countries competed in different races throughout the day with around 35,000 spectators lining the routes around the city centre.

This year's race celebrated 50 years since the famous win of legendary Abebe Bikila in Kosice in 1961.

European Athletics (EAA) – News