Aiming for the European Marathon Championships

Aaron Gruen: From the USA to the top of the ÖLV

Aaron Gruen as winner of the Brooklyn 2024 half marathon (1:05:54).

(Bild: MarathonFoto)

Austria's athletics has gained a very good long-distance runner - with an interesting CV. Aaron Gruen (father is US-American, mother is German) grew up in Munich, went to the USA to study and developed from an amateur runner to a specialist in the half marathon (1:04:35) and marathon (2:15:56).

Aaron Gruen, whose grandfather had to flee Vienna at the beginning of the Second World War, has been an Austrian citizen since 2022. In June, he applied to World Athletics for a change of nation, which was approved by the US federation and the ÖLV.

Immediately in fourth place
On June 30, 2024, he competed for Austria for the first time at the Hamburg Marathon and is already at the top of the ÖLV's annual best list with his twelfth-place finish in the half marathon in 1:04:35. The 25-year-old immediately finished in fourth place at the top - funnily enough right between Dominik Stadlmann (1:04:20) and Mario Bauernfeind (1:04:45), his new club colleagues at the ÖBV Pro Team. The contact to his new club came about through ÖLV sports coordinator Philipp Breyer. Gruen: "I think it's great how friendly and approachable coach Mario Mostböck is and how the best Austrian runners all train together. It's a great honor for me to run for Austria."

European Marathon Championships as a goal
"My goals," says Aaron Gruen, "over the next few years are to see how close I can get to the Austrian marathon record and to represent Austria at the European Marathon Championships in April 2025. I'm also keeping an eye on the 2028 Olympic Games. In the short term, I'll be running the Chicago Marathon in October." There, too, he wants to see if he can get a little closer to Peter Herzog's record (2:10:06)...

Aaron Gruen

(Bild: MarathonFoto)

Studied in the USA and Prague
He tells us about his exciting career: "Originally, I wanted to study either cello or medicine in Germany, but then decided to go to Brown University (Providence) because I could combine my interests and the two subjects better there. During the coronavirus period, I lived in Prague for a year and studied cello at the conservatory there. I also did a lot more running there. Although I developed a passion for running in sixth grade, it was just an intense hobby until 2020."

Already 2:21 in Boston
But when he returned to Providence in 2021, he trained for his first marathon. He finished third in the Providence Marathon with a time of 2:34. "A month later, I finished fourth in the San Francisco Marathon. I was still training on my own back then. In my last year at Brown, I developed a relationship with a coach, Bob Rothenberg. He was the former coach at Brown University. In April 2022, I surprised myself by running the Boston Marathon in 2:21. At that time, I also graduated from college (music and chemistry) and was applying to medical schools in the US. My coach, Bob, introduced me to Kurt Benninger, the coach of the Rhode Island Track Club, a quasi-elite club. I joined the Rhode Island Track Club in April 2023 with Kurt as my coach. I will continue to train in Providence, as I have my apartment, my training partner - and my hangover - there. However, I'm also looking forward to training with the ÖBV Pro Team in Vienna from time to time." He also regularly visits his parents, who still live in Munich.

"More than just sport!"
 Aaron Gruen has held Austrian citizenship since 2022 in accordance with Section 58c (1a) of the Citizenship Act 1985. "My grandfather had to flee Vienna with his family at the beginning of the Second World War. My father collected the documents over the last five years and we then acquired citizenship together. I play a lot of music from the time of the Holocaust. In fact, my bachelor's thesis was about the music composed in Theresienstadt!" Representing Austria means more to Aaron Gruen than just doing sport: "It's a way of righting the wrongs of the past internally." In addition to running, Aaron Gruen teaches cello and gives concerts and performances as a soloist and in chamber music ensembles.

He modestly talks about his academic career en passant: "I got a place at Harvard Medical School for this August. However, I have postponed my start at Harvard for a year so that I can focus more on running in the coming year."

Confusion among statisticians
Incidentally, he is still causing some confusion among statisticians. Even at World Athletics he is listed twice: as an American under Aaron Gruen and in the best list as an Austrian under Aaron Grün. ÖLV sports director Hannes Gruber will have this corrected by the world federation as soon as possible. What is correct is that he really did run the half marathon twice this year to the exact second in 1:04:35 - as the winner on January 14 in Tempe (Arizona) as an American and now in Hamburg as an Austrian. He makes one thing clear: "My name is spelled Gruen. Originally it was Grünberger, but the name was shortened to Gruen when my relatives fled to America in the 1930s."

The best times of Aaron Gruen, born on 28.01.1999 in Munich:

5000 m: 
13:57.45 (6) New York 03/05/2024

5 km: 
14:36 (1) Providence 09/17/2023

Half marathon: 
1:04:35 (1) Tempe AZ 01/14/2024
1:04:35 (12) Hamburg 06/30/2024

Marathon:
2:15:56 (9) Valley Cottage 10/14/2023