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<p">Compared to

the sensational marathon triumph of the German Ulrike Maisch, there was no such

surprise in the men’s marathon race for gold one day later. On Sunday the big

favourite won: Italian Stefano Baldini took the gold medal in 2:11:32 hours. The

35 year-old is now European Champion for the second time after 1998. It was a different

story for the silver medal, since the Swiss Viktor Röthlin won it totally unexpected

in 2:11:50 ahead of Spaniard Julio Rey (2:12:37).

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<p">„Everything

was perfect for me on that day. It wasn’t easy to run with the head wind and

the course wasn’t easy as well,” said Stefano Baldini, who was Olympic Marathon

Champion two years ago in Athens. The Italian, who had opened a running shop

where his Olympic gold medal is shown, already thinks about the Olympic Games

in Beijing 2008. „Step by step I am planning for the Olympics 2008 because I

want to defend my title there. This victory today was an important success for

my career,” said Stefano Baldini. His victory today was almost an easy one for

him. Although the men’s race had a better standard than the women’s the day

before this European marathon still doesn’t have the quality of an Olympic or

World Championships’ race at all. Also the fall marathons like Berlin, Chicago or

New York will have a better standard because they will feature the strong

African runners.

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„I will

decide later together with my coach if I will run a fall marathon,” said

Stefano Baldini, who already won two bronze medals at world championships but

wasn’t able yet to win a World Marathon Majors race in either Boston, London,

Berlin, Chicago or New York. Due to regeneration the only possible fall race

would bet he New York City Marathon on November 5^th.

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In a slow

European championships marathon half way was passed in 65:44 minutes.  The Portuguese, Italians and Spaniards ruled

the scene in the lead – just Viktor Röthlin and the Finnish titleholder Janne

Holmen, who finished seventh in 2:13:10 hours, were not from these countries of

the 11 runners strong leading group.

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<p">During the

race a duel in the deal developed between Baldini and Röthlin. „As the pace

slowed down a bit I attacked at the 40 k mark,“ said Stefano Baldini. „I

haven’t lost a gold medal here but won a silver,“ said Viktor Röthlin. The 31

year-old Swiss celebrated with his silver medal in Gothenburg his biggest

success of his career. „It is unbelievable – I dreamt about winning silver the

night before.“ A dream has come true for Viktor Röthlin.

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