Christa Vahlensieck (née Kofferschläger; born 27 May 1949) is a German former

long distance runner Long may refer to: Measurement * Long, characteristic of something of great duration * Long, characteristic of something of great length * Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate * Longa (music), note value in early music men ...

and pioneer in the marathon for women. During her running career, from 1973-1989, she simultaneously achieved a world record in the 10,000 metres, in the 25k road race and the marathon; she holds 17 German champion titles.

Biography

On 28 October 1973, Vahlensieck became the first German woman to complete the marathon in under three hours (2:59:26), as a youth in a German Forestrun. She set another German record (2:53:00) at the Boston Marathon on 15 April 1974. Both times were also European bests. In the same year, she won the Essen Marathon in 2:42:38. The time was not recognized as a world record because the course was 745 m too short. On 3 May 1975, she succeeded at setting the world record at

Dülmen Dülmen () is a town in the district of Coesfeld, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Dülmen is situated in the south part of the Münsterland area, between the Lippe river to the south, the Baumberge hills to the north and the Ems ri ...

with a time of 2:40:16. In the same year, she was the first German winner at the Schwarzwald Marathon in 2:45:43, a time that still stands as the course record. On 10 September 1977, her victory at the

Berlin Marathon The Berlin Marathon (german: Berlin-Marathon, ) is a marathon event held annually on the streets of Berlin, Germany on the last weekend of September. Held annually since 1974, the event includes multiple races over the marathon distance of , inc ...

in 2:34:48 gave her another world record. At the 1983 World Championship in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

she placed 19th (2:40:43). From 1973 to 1989, she won 21 marathons, among them the 1977

, five times at the Košice Peace Marathon (1981, 1984, 1986 - 1988) and the 1989

Vienna Marathon The Vienna City Marathon is an annual marathon race over the classic distance of 42.195 km held in Vienna, Austria since 1984. History The first edition was held on with a total of 794 competitors. It is Austria's largest road running event ...

. In 1988 Vahlensieck ran in the special event "Friendship Run Wuppertal-Košice", a course over 1765 km, trespassing the Iron curtain: "an awesome experience", as she remembers.

Other Records

* World record in the hour run: 16,872 meters, 24 May 1975 in Bochum * World record in the 10000 metres: 34:01.4, 20 August 1975 in Wolfsburg * World record in the 20000 metres: 1:10:50.2, 25 October 1975 in Essen * Four world records in 25km road race: 1:31:52, 23 March 1975 in Düren; 1:31:01, 13 September 1975 in Rheydt; 2 May 1976 in Ameln; 1:28:33, 22 November 1978 in Griesheim * World record in the Marathon: 2:40:15.8, 3 May 1975 in Dülmen; 2:34:47.5 10 September 1977 in Berlin * German Record in 100km run: 7:50:37, 4 September 1976 in Unna She won 11

West German West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

national titles: * in Marathon: 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1980 * in 25 Kilometer Road race: 1977, 1978, 1979 and 1980 * in 15-Kilometer Road race: 1988 * in Cross country 1978

Achievements

References

External links

Portrait auf laufreport.de
(in German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Vahlensieck, Christa 1949 births Living people Sportspeople from Düsseldorf German female long-distance runners German female marathon runners West German female long-distance runners West German female marathon runners World record setters in athletics (track and field) World Athletics Championships athletes for West Germany