Martin Grau

Martin Christian Grau (born 26 March 1992) is a German track and field athlete who specialises in the 3000 metres steeplechase. He holds a personal best of 8:24.29 minutes for the event, set in 2014. He was the gold medallist at the 2015 Summer Universiade.

Martin Christian Grau
Grau at the 2015 German Championships
Personal information
Born (1992-03-26) March 26, 1992
Höchstadt
EducationAnsbach University of Applied Sciences
Sport
Country Germany
SportGerman Steeplechase athlete
Medal record
Representing  Germany
European Athletics Junior Championships
Bronze medal – third place2011 Tallinn3000 m s'chase
Super League
Silver medal – second place2014 Braunschweig3000 m s'chase
Summer Universiade
Gold medal – first place2015 Gwangju3000 m s'chase

Career

Born in Höchstadt, Grau joined the local athletics club LSC Höchstadt/Aisch. His twin brother, Bastian Grau, also took up distance running.[1] His international debut came at the age of eighteen, when he finished eleventh at the 2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics.[2] He had his first international success at the 2011 European Athletics Junior Championships, where he was the steeplechase bronze medallist. He also ran in the junior race at the 2011 European Cross Country Championships that year, finishing 53rd.[3]

Grau improved his steeplechase best to 8:47.43 minutes in 2012,[2] then became the German under-23 champion in 2013.[4] He ran at the 2013 European Athletics U23 Championships, but failed to make it to the final.[5] After setting a personal best of 8:24.29 minutes in June 2014, he established himself as a senior athlete with a second-place finish behind France's Yoann Kowal at the 2014 European Team Championships Super League.[3] At the 2014 German Athletics Championships he claimed the runner-up spot behind the more established Steffen Uliczka.[4] He was selected to run for Germany at the 2014 European Athletics Championships, but finished only 13th in the final after having qualified as the second fastest athlete.[6]

He returned to the European Team Championships in 2015, but managed only fourth on that occasion.[3] The 2015 Universiade was the venue of his first international steeplechase title, where he beat all-comers in the student event with a run of 8:31.55 minutes.[7]

Personal bests

International competitions
YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventNotes
2010 World Junior Championships Moncton, Canada 11th 3000 m s'chase 9:00.56
2011 European Junior Championships Tallinn, Estonia 3rd 3000 m s'chase 8:48.79
European Cross Country Championships Velenje, Slovenia 53rd Junior race
2013 European U23 Championships Tampere, Finland 14th (h) 3000 m s'chase 8:57.83
2014 European Team Championships Braunschweig, Germany 2nd 3000 m s'chase 8:29.16
European Championships Zürich, Switzerland 13th 3000 m s'chase 8:44.46
2015 European Team Championships Cheboksary, Russia 4th 3000 m s'chase 8:42.58
Universiade Gwangju, South Korea 1st 3000 m s'chase 8:31.55
2017 Universiade Taipei, Taiwan 7th 3000 m s'chase 8:45.63
2018 European Championships Berlin, Germany 17th (h) 3000 m s'chase 8:33.81
2019 World Championships Doha, Qatar 24th (h) 3000 m s'chase 8:26.79

References
  1. Marx, Wolfram (2014-11-25). Martin und Bastian Grau: "Das gemeinsame Ziel heißt Rio" (in German). Leichathletik. Retrieved on 2015-07-15.
  2. Martin Grau Honours. IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-07-15.
  3. Martin Grau. European Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-07-15.
  4. Martin Grau. Leichathletik. Retrieved on 2015-07-15.
  5. European Athletics U23 Championships - Tampere (FIN) - 10 - 14 July 2013 - Results - Day 3 Archived 17 June 2015 at the Wayback Machine. European Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-07-15.
  6. 2014 European Championships Men's Steeplechase Results Archived 2016-11-20 at the Wayback Machine. European Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-07-15.
  7. Mulkeen, Jon (2015-07-11). Sprint double for Zyabkina at World University Games. IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-07-15.
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