Ethiopian victories in Bolzano

The Ethiopian Tadese Worku won the men's 10 kilometer race with a time of 28.18 minutes, while his compatriot Dawit Seyaum set a new course record in the women's 5 km distance in 15.22 minutes and Trentino's Nadia Battocletti came third on the podium.

The two Ethiopians Tamirat Tola (30 years old) and Tadese Worku (20) were considered top favorites in the run-up to the Bolzano New Year's Eve run, with the experts seeing Tola as having a slight advantage. But in the race, which was held in perfect external conditions and temperatures of around 12 degrees Celsius, Worku turned the tables. While the field was still close together after the first lap - with Brit Thomas Mortimer in the lead - Worku and Tola picked up the pace from the second loop onwards. From this point on, Worku was in the lead, while Tola was lurking a few meters behind.

But Worku, 10 years his junior, who this year set a new Ethiopian record over 10 km and became U20 world champion over 3000 meters, proved to be extremely hardened in the heart of Bolzano's old town. He gradually increased his lead over the following laps and was finally the first to cross the finish line after 28.18 minutes.

“It was a very good competition from me today and I am of course overjoyed that I was able to win this race,” were Tadese Workus’ first words after his arrival. Eight seconds after the day's winner, Tamirat Tola, bronze medalist at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio over 10.000 meters and 2017 runner-up world champion in the marathon, arrived at Waltherplatz in Bolzano. Thomas Mortimer from Great Britain completed the podium with a time of 29.23 minutes.

The men's podium (from left) Tamirat Tolu, Tadese Worku and Thomas Mortimer. © REMO MOSNA

The Brit was four seconds faster than Dario De Caro from Turin, who came fourth as the best Azzurro. The 24-year-old was in eighth and ninth positions for most of the time before working his way up on the last two laps. “Halfway through the route I increased the pace and overtook some participants. Then I noticed that the group that was now in front of me wasn't moving away. I passed them on the penultimate lap and hoped that they wouldn't hit back on the last loop. Luckily I was able to maintain my lead until the finish. It was my first time competing in Bolzano, but I’ll definitely be back,” said De Caro. Perkmann extremely strong 12th Hannes Perkmann from Sarn performed admirably, taking 30.46th place with a time of 12 minutes. “When I sat in the dressing room next to the top stars, I honestly asked myself what I was doing here. But it was a unique experience and I am grateful that I was given this opportunity by the organizers. I’m happy with my performance,” said Perkmann. The second South Tyrolean participant in the starting field, Raphael Joppi from Salurn, came 31.44th in 18 minutes. Seyaum ignites the turbo on the home straight In the women's race, after the starting signal, a thrilling duel developed between Norah Jeruto from Kenya and the Ethiopian Dawit Seyaum. The two Africans stayed together until the last lap before Seyaum made the decisive attack and prevailed in 15.22 minutes.

In doing so, she set a new course record in Bolzano and beat the old record set by the two Kenyans Agnes Tirop and Margaret Kipkemboi by eight seconds. “I'm very happy and still can't believe that I was able to win this race here. The warm weather today certainly contributed to this new record,” said the 25-year-old, who even ran a 5 km time of 14.39 minutes in Lille almost two months ago.

Dawit Seyaum set a new record. © REMO MOSNA

Second-placed Jeruto also fell short of the old course record, as last year's third-place finisher completed the four 1,25-kilometer loops through Bolzano's old town in 15.24 minutes. Third place went to Nadia Battocletti, a Trentino native, who was the best Azzurra. The Olympic seventh over 5000 meters in Tokyo arrived in Bolzano after 15.55 minutes.

“I'm very happy with how things went today. Many people were hoping for a new Italian record, but that wasn't my goal. I continued the season after the European Cross Country Championships and I think I succeeded in a very good way. I am happy to have taken part in the BOclassic South Tyrol. “I’ve competed three times now and I’m happy that I achieved this good result, even though I had to run alone for a long time,” said Battocletti. There were no South Tyrolean participants at the start. Moving moment in memory of Agnes Tirop The women's elite race began with a moving moment when Agnes Tirop was thought of before the starting signal. The Kenyan, two-time winner of the BOclassic South Tyrol and to this day the course record holder together with her compatriot Margaret Kipkemboi, fell victim to a violent crime in her home country in October. The organizers showed a short video and then released white balloons into the sky.

After the award ceremonies, the busy organizing committee from the Bozen Raiffeisen Runners Club was satisfied with how the 47th BOclassic South Tyrol went. “We saw top-class competitions today and the new course record for women is of course the famous icing on the cake. We were very happy about the successful return to Bolzano city center and that we were able to complete the entire program - including the non-competitive Just-For-Fun run, the Ladurner fun run, the Raiffeisen Youth Cup and the handbike race.

We would like to thank the many helpers and our loyal sponsors, without whose help we would not be able to organize or finance an event like the BOclassic Südtirol,” said the OC leaders Christiane Warasin and Stefan Fink in conclusion. Jbari and Giotto win the fun run The 18th BOclassic Ladurner fun run took place early on Friday afternoon with a maximum of 300 participants. Khalid Jbari from Bolzano and Marina Giotto (Mel/Belluno Province) won the first of a total of seven stages of the Top7 running series. Jbari took victory after 5 kilometers with a time of 15.29 minutes. Osvaldo Zanella, who is tesserated for Atletica Brugnera, finished second, seven seconds behind Jbari. David Andersag from ASC Berg completed the podium. He completed the four laps of 1,25 kilometers each in 15.44 minutes.

Marina Giotto from Mel, who starts for GS La Piave 2000, initially ran together at the front with Natalie Andersag (Kardaun/ASC Berg) before she increased the pace after a little more than half the route and took part in the 18th BOclassic Ladurner Volkslauf Won in 18.13:19.02 minutes. Second place went to Andersag, who returned from her maternity break with a top result. Lara Vorhauser from Grasstein in the municipality of Franzensfeste, athlete from ASV Sterzing Volksbank, made it onto the podium in third place. Her final time was XNUMX minutes. Results 47th BOclassic South Tyrol, elite race Men Pos Name Country Time 1. Tadese Worku ETH 28.18 2. Tamirat Tola ETH 28.26 3. Thomas Mortimer GBR 29.23 4. Dario De Caro ITA/ 29.27 5. Hamid ben daoud ESP 29.32 9. Hannes Perkmann ITA/Sarntal 30.46 10. Raphael Joppi ITA/Salurn 31.44

Women Pos Name Country Time 1. David Seyaum ETH 15.22 2. Norah Jeruto KEN 15.24 3. Nadia Battocletti ITA 15.55 4. Diane Van Es NED 16.16 5. Bojana Bjeljac CRO 16.17

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Ethiopian victories in Bolzano

The last day of the year has been celebrated continuously in Bolzano since December 31, 1975. This was also the case on Friday at the 47th BOclassic Südtirol, which once again had a top-class cast.

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