Soi and Cheruiyot win BOclassic - Weissteiner third

Cheruiyot and Soi secured success numbers 19 and 20 for their country in the best New Year's Eve run in the world. Kenya achieved the double for the fifth time. Soi's success was also Kenya's 50th podium finish, followed by Kiprop's 51st.

In the super exciting men's race over 10 km, the decision came down to the very last meter. Half marathon world champion Kiprop, who had led practically the entire race, was intercepted in the last few meters by his compatriot Edwin Soi. Soi needed 10:28 minutes for the 16 km. This is the fastest winning time since 1998. Kiprop even ran a personal best time over 10 km (28:17.1). It was the fourth triumph in Bolzano for the Olympic bronze medalist. This means that the 25-year-old is only missing one success from record winner Sergey Lebid. The nine-time European cross country champion had to settle for seventh place. Last year's winner and cross world champion Imane Merga only kept up with the two Kenyans for a good half of the race. He ultimately finished third, 41 seconds behind.

Markus Ploner had a sensational race. The 31-year-old from Franzensfeste ran shoulder to shoulder with Lebid for a long time. In tenth place, Ploner clearly distanced himself from the 1500 m European champion Arturo Casado from Spain (11th). Ploner ran his personal best time at the BOclassic in 29:39. In the history of the BOclassic, the only South Tyrolean Christian Leuprecht was faster than the amateur from SV Vipiteno.

In the women's race, 5000 m world champion Vivian Cheruiyot secured a befitting victory in the 5 km distance. However, the only 20-year-old Ethiopian junior champion Asfera Godfay stayed close to the world's best runner of the moment until the home straight. This was also due to the rather slow rhythm of the race. In 16:03.0, Cheruiyot stayed almost half a minute above the course record set by German Kathrin Ullrich in 1991. In return, Cheruiyot promised to come back next year with a stronger performance - hopefully as an Olympic champion.

Local hero Silvia Weissteiner shone in third place and climbed onto the podium for the second time since 2006. Weissteiner only lost a few meters to the two Africans in the final lap.

To underline Weissteiner's achievement: Since 1998, only Olympic champion Stefano Baldini (2nd in 2004) has reached the podium alongside Weissteiner from the "Azzurri". She couldn't have started the Olympic year better. Things also went very well for Agnes Tschurtschenthaler. The Sesto native took sixth place.

Results

Men (10 km): 1. Edwin Soi (Kenya) 28:16.6 2. Wilson Kiprop (Kenya) 28:17.1 3. Imane Merga (Ethiopia) 28:57 4. Abdelaziz El Idrissi (Morocco) 28:59 5. Abdelhatif Meftah (France) 29:02 6. Stefano La Rosa (Italy) 29:17 7. Sergey Lebid (Ukraine) 29:20 8. Fernando Silva (Portugal) 29:25 9. Vasyl Matviychuk (Ukraine) 29:37 10. Markus Ploner (Italy) 29:39

Women (5 km): 1. Vivian Cheruiyot (Kenya) 16:03.0 2. Afera Godfay (Ethiopia) 16:03,4 3. Silvia Weissteiner (Italy/Gasteig) 16:14 4. Fatna Maraoiu (Italy) 16:27 5. Ana Dias (Portugal) 16:29 6. Agnes Tschurtschenthaler (Italy) 16:31 7. Justina Heslop (Great Britain) 16:35 8. Valentina Bellotti (Italy) 16:40 9. Krisztina Papp (Hungary) 16:45 10. Ibtissam Lakhouad (Morocco) 16:47

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Soi and Cheruiyot win BOclassic - Weissteiner third

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