Carsten Eich (born 9 January 1970) is a retired (East) German runner who specialized in the

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 ...

and the

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair di ...

s. He is an eight-time German champion and national record holder in the

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 shortcu ...

Running career

He was born in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

and represented the clubs

SC DHfK Leipzig SC DHfK Leipzig e. V. ''(Sportclub Deutsche Hochschule für Körperkultur Leipzig e. V.)'' is a sports club in Leipzig, Germany. Until the closure of the sports university DHfK, the club was part of the DHfK. Established was the club in 1954 as ...

, SG Motor Gohlis-Nord Leipzig, LAC Quelle Fürth and LG Braunschweig. On the track he won the 5000 metres at the 1989 European Junior Championships, finished 22nd in the 10,000 metres at the 1990 European Championships, competed in 10,000 metres at the 1992 Olympic Games without reaching the final and finished 16th in the 10,000 metres at the 1997 World Championships. He was also a marathon specialist, finishing 35th at the 1994 European Championships and 54th at the

2000 Olympic Games The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

. He also finished 15th as the best European at the 1994 World Half Marathon Championships and 60th at the 1996 World Half Marathon Championships. On the national level, Eich became the last East German champion in the 5000 metres, in 1990, ahead of

Jens Karrass Jens may refer to: * Jens (given name), a list of people with the name * Jens (surname), a list of people * Jens, Switzerland, a municipality * 1719 Jens, an asteroid See also * Jensen (disambiguation) * Jenssi Joensuu (; krl, Jovensuu; ) i ...

and reigning champion Stephan Freigang. He also won the 10,000 metres ahead of Stephan Freigang and

Steffen Dittmann Steffen is a surname and given name, and may refer to: * Albert Steffen (1884–1963), Swiss poet, painter, and novelist *Alex Steffen (b. 1968), American writer and environmental futurist * Anthony Steffen (1929–2004), Brazilian actor; acted in ...

. Eich became German 10,000 metres champion in 1992, and had several silver and bronze medals in 5000 and 10,000 metres. He finally became marathon champion in 1999 and half marathon champion in 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2006. His personal best track times were 7:46.51 minutes in the 3000 metres, 13:27.90 minutes in the 5000 metres and 27:41.94 minutes in the 10,000 metres. He ran the half marathon in 1:00:34 hours, achieved in April 1993 in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

, and the marathon in 2:10:22 hours, achieved at the 1999

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 ...

. Eich holds the German record in the half marathon; also in 10 kilometres

road running Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road. This differs from track and field on a regular track and cross country running over natural terrain. These events are usually classified as long-distance a ...

with 27:47 minutes, achieved in April 1993 in

Paderborn Paderborn (; Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pader and ''Born'', an old German term for th ...

Post-active career

Eich retired in 2007. Educated as a pharmacist, he later worked in sports and health management, from 2012 as coach of

Sabrina Mockenhaupt Sabrina Mockenhaupt (born 6 December 1980 in Siegen) is a German long-distance runner who specialises in track events and the marathon. She is a two-time winner of the Cologne Marathon and has also won the Frankfurt Marathon and the Berlin Half M ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eich, Carsten 1970 births Living people Athletes from Leipzig East German male long-distance runners German male long-distance runners German male marathon runners East German male marathon runners Olympic athletes for Germany Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for Germany SC DHfK Leipzig athletes LAC Quelle Fürth athletes LG Braunschweig athletes