Jan Gerrit Fitschen (born 2 May 1977 in

Nordhorn Nordhorn ( Northern Low Saxon: ''Nothoorn'' (or ''Notthoarn'', ''Netthoarn'' and ''Noordhoorn'')) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the district seat of Grafschaft Bentheim in Lower Saxony's southwesternmost corner near the border with the ...

) is a German long-distance runner, competing for TV

Wattenscheid Wattenscheid () is a Stadtbezirk of the city of Bochum. Until 1975, it was a separate town in the Ruhr area of North Rhine-Westphalia. Wattenscheid has a population of about 80,000 citizens. Some notable firms have their headquarters in there ...

01. At the 1999 Under 23 European Championships he finished fifth over the

5000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a stan ...

. He was German champion over 5000 metres in 2001, 2002, 2005 and 2006 and over 10,000 m in 2005 and 2006. Fitschen won the title of European Champion over

10,000 metres The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is common at championship level events. The race ...

at the 2006 European Championships in Athletics in

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

in a personal best at the time of 28:10.94. However, on 4 May 2008 in

Palo Alto Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. The city was estab ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, he improved on his 10,000 m time with a personal best of 28:02.55.

References

External links

Fitschen keeps going in his dream race
EAA) 1977 births Living people People from Nordhorn German male long-distance runners German national athletics champions European Athletics Championships medalists Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade silver medalists for Germany Medalists at the 2003 Summer Universiade Athletes from Lower Saxony TV Wattenscheid athletes {{Germany-longdistance-athletics-bio-stub