BOclassic: A track record for the anniversary

The anniversary edition of the Bolzano New Year's Eve run is history. On Tuesday, Ethiopian Telahun Haile Bekele (Ethiopia) won the men's elite race with a new record time of 27.59 minutes, making him the first athlete to break the 10-minute mark in the 28-kilometer race. Nadia Battocletti from Trentino was unbeatable in the women's race and repeated her victory from the previous year.

31 December 2024

From: pm/sn

The 50th BOclassic South Tyrol will go down in history. Not only because of the top sporting performances that were offered in the Talfer city, but also because of the audience, who attended the New Year's Eve run, which was first held in 1975, in greater numbers than ever before and cheered the participants loudly. An atmosphere that literally allowed Telahun Haile Bekele to fly to a new course record.

After the start at Waltherplatz, a group of five remained together, which included the eventual winner, the Trentino crowd favorite Yeman Crippa, the Kenyan Charles Rotich, the South African Maxime Chaumeton and Soufiyan Bouqantar from Morocco. Bouqantar had to let his competitors go in the fourth lap, Chaumeton dropped out on the fifth loop. The trio Bekele, Crippa and Rotich remained.

On the penultimate lap, Bekele then launched the attack and built up a lead, which he defended on the last lap and finally in the final sprint. In the end, the 25-year-old Ethiopian set a new record time of 27.59 minutes, which was exactly one second faster than Sebastian Sawe last year. Bekele had already been on the podium once at the BOclassic Südtirol - in 2019 he came second.

Crippa in second place for the third time in a row

Yeman Crippa once again finished in second place. The Trentino native, who is a member of the police sports group and is the reigning European half marathon champion, had to give way to another athlete for the third time in a row, but once again showed a courageous performance in the city center of Bolzano that was two seconds short of a major coup. 19-year-old Rotich completed the podium with a time of 28.08 minutes, while Chaumeton finished fourth. Two-time BOclassic winner Oscar Chelimo from Uganda (2020, 2022) finished in fifth place. The only South Tyrolean in the field - trail specialist Daniel Pattis from Tiers - finished the BOclassic South Tyrol in 30.41 minutes in 24th place.

The women's podium with (from left) Aleshign Baweke, Nadia Battocletti and Yasemin Can. © Sportissimus

In the women's race, which concluded the 50th BOclassic South Tyrol on Tuesday afternoon, all eyes were on Nadia Battocletti (sports group of the judicial police). The Trentino native, who won the silver medal in the 10.000m at the Olympic Games in Paris, lived up to her role as favourite and celebrated a confident start-to-finish victory - even though the 20-year-old Aleshign Baweke (Ethiopia) was not to be shaken off in the 5 km and was only finally beaten on the home straight after an irresistible start from Battocletti. The reigning U20 world champion in the 3000m underlined her great talent with this performance and we will probably hear from her again and again in the future. Incidentally, Battocletti's winning time was 15.31 minutes. This made her four seconds faster than Baweke.

Third place went to the Turkish Yasemin Can (16.05 minutes). The 28-year-old stayed on the heels of the leading duo for a long time, but had to let go on the final loop. Can had finished third at the European Cross Country Championships just a few weeks ago, where Battocletti had won the gold medal. Federica Del Buono (Carabinieri sports group) finished fourth in the Bolzano New Year's Eve run after a brilliant final lap, while Micol Majori came in fifth.

Results 50th BOclassic South Tyrol

Elite race men:
1. Telahun Haile Bekele ETH 27.59
2. Yeman Crippa ITA/GS Fiamme Oro Padova 28.01
3. Charles Rotich KEN 28.08
4. Maxime Chaumeton RSA 28.27
5. Oscar Chelimo UGA 28.43

Elite race women:
1. Nadia Battocletti ITA/Fiamme Azzurre 15.31
2. Aleshign Baweke ETH 15.35
3. Yasemin Can TUR 16.05
4. Federica Del Buono ITA/Carabinieri 16.07
5. Micol Majori ITA/Pro Sesto Atl. Cernusco 16.11

Schlagwörter: Track & Field Boclassic New Year's Eve run