Maja Neuenschwander (born 13 February 1980 in Bern, Canton of Bern) is a Swiss long-distance runner who competes in marathon races. Her personal best for the marathon distance is 2:30:09 hours – run at the 2015

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 ...

where she was the first female runner overall (the first Swiss victory in history). She has represented her country in the marathon at the

European Athletics Championships The European Athletics Championships is a biennial (from 2010) athletics event organised by the European Athletics Association and is recognised as the elite continental outdoor athletics championships for Europe. Editions First held, for men ...

(2010) and the Summer Olympics (2012).

Career

Her first international outing came at the

European Cross Country Championships The European Cross Country Championships is an annual international cross country running competition. Organised by the European Athletic Association, it is the area championships for the region and is held in December each year. The championship ...

, where she ran in the junior race and placed 16th in 1998 and 30th in 1999. She was a 5000 metres finalist at the

1999 European Athletics Junior Championships The 1999 European Athletics Junior Championships were held in Riga, Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links= ...

, finishing seventh. She made her

half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish or shortcut ...

debut in

Uster Uster (High Alemannic: ''Uschter'') is a town and the capital of the Uster District in the Swiss canton of Zürich. It is the third largest town in the canton of Zürich, with almost 35,000 inhabitants, and is one of the twenty largest towns i ...

in 2000 and came fifth with a time of 76:26 minutes. Despite this early start, she did not compete in top level

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

for several years after this. She returned to action in 2006 with a new focus on the marathon distance. She ran a best of 2:44:24 hours for third at the Zurich Marathon and came 13th 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 ...

. She had similar results the following year, placing fourth in Zurich and 15th in Berlin.Maja Neuenschwander
Tilastopaja. Retrieved on 2013-04-24. In 2008, she ran under two hours and forty minutes for the first time at the Berlin Marathon, crossing the line after 2:38:53 hours to take twelfth place. She had marked improvement in 2009, setting personal bests of 76:22 minutes at the

Paris Half Marathon Paris Half Marathon (''French: Semi-marathon de Paris''), known as the Harmonie Mutuelle Semi de Paris for sponsorship reasons, is an annual half marathon held every March in Paris, France since 1993. Kenya's Stanley Biwott is the men's course ...

and 2:35:44 at the 2009 Berlin Marathon. These performances brought Neuenschwander her first senior international appearances: she came 25th in the marathon at the

2010 European Athletics Championships The 2010 European Athletics Championships were the 20th edition of the European Athletics Championships, organised under the supervision of the European Athletic Association. They were held at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Barcelona, C ...

and she competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the marathon where she finished in 53rd place. In the meantime she had brought her best down to 2:33:45 at the 2011 Berlin Marathon then 2:31:56 to take the runner-up spot at the Zurich Marathon. The start of the 2013 brought Neuenschwander a personal best of 2:30:50 with which she was the runner-up at the

Hamburg Marathon The Hamburg Marathon (german: Hamburg-Marathon) is an annual marathon race over the classic distance of held in Hamburg, Germany. In 2009, 13,938 participants were counted. The marathon is categorized as a Gold Label Road Race by World Athlet ...

Personal bests

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 ra ...

: 35:49.89 min (1999) *

Half-marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish or shortcut ...

: 1:11:08 hours (2015)City Pier City Run - The Hague
. Retrieved on 8 March 2015. * Marathon: 2:26:49 hours (2015)

Results

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Neuenschwander, Maja 1980 births Living people Swiss female long-distance runners Swiss female marathon runners Olympic athletes for Switzerland Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Bern