"This is madness"

Sensation from Pallitsch: To the European Championships with a dream record!

Raphael Pallitsch

(Bild: zVg)

Raphael Pallitsch caused a sensation at the Whitsun meeting in Rehlingen in Germany! Finishing third in the 1500 m in 3:33.78 minutes, he improved on Günther Weidlinger's almost 24-year-old 1500 m record (3:34.69) by 91 hundredths. Pallitsch even managed to qualify directly for the European Championships in Rome (June 7-12). 

A time of 3:36.00 was required for the men's 1500m at the European Championships. Pallitsch even missed the direct qualifying time for the Olympic Games in Paris (3:33.50) by just 28 hundredths when he literally smashed his personal best of 3:36.47, which he set in Rehlingen in the preliminary round of the 2023 World Championships in Budapest.

"This is amazing!"
 After the race, the 34-year-old was overwhelmed with happiness: "This is amazing, unbelievable! I knew after the last training sessions in Vienna that I was in very good shape, but I really didn't expect this!" Before the final training session in Vienna, he had prepared at altitude in St. Moritz. But the fact that he conjured up such a time on the track was absolutely unforeseeable.

"The self-confidence is there, of course!"
Especially when you look at the background to the race. "It was a huge field (note: 18 runners), so I even had to start from the second row, I then ran almost the entire race on the second lane, only very briefly on the inside lane. But then I worked my way forward lap by lap." Logically, he now also says: "There's still room for improvement this year. The self-confidence is there, of course!"

Now "the logical goal" must also be to qualify directly for the Games in Paris. The Burgenländer, who competes for SV Schwechat, will run his next race next Wednesday in Eisenstadt, also in the 1500m.

"Eternal" Austrian 1500 m best list:

• 3:33.78 (3) - Raphael Pallitsch - Rehlingen - 19.05.2024
• 3:34.69 (2) - Günther Weidlinger - Kassel - 07.06.2000
• 3:35.80 (6) - Robert Nemeth - Koblenz - 29.08.1984
• 3:36.11 (11) - Andreas Vojta - Glasgow - 12.07.2014
• 3:36.55 (5) - Werner Edler-Muhr - Nuremberg - 07.06.1996
• 3:37.07 (7) - Thomas Ebner - Nuremberg - 07.06.1996
• 3:38,38 (2) - Dietmar Millonig - Schwechat - 29.05.1982
• 3:38.68 (3) - Brenton Rowe - Sydney - 2012-02-18
• 3:39.07 (6) - Wolfgang Konrad - Bern - 20.08.1986
• 3:39.17 (8 ) - Karl Blaha - Berlin - 05.07.1989