Telahun Haile Bekele in action in Hengelo (© AFP / Getty Images)
Ethiopia’s Telahun Haile Bekele faces tough opposition in the form of young Kenyan Matthew Kipkoech Kipruto at Campaccio, while Nadia Battocletti has high hopes of securing an Italian victory at the World Athletics Cross Country Tour Gold meeting in San Giorgio su Legnano on Monday (6).
Bekele is one of the fastest men in history on the track, with his PBs for 3000m (7:25.48) and 5000m (12:42.70) placing him inside the top 10 on the all-time lists for those disciplines. He came close to the latter when placing third at the Diamond League Final in September, clocking 12:45.63.
More recently, he triumphed over 10km at the BOclassic in Bolzano on 31 December, clocking 27:59. The 25-year-old now turns his attention to cross country, a discipline he hasn’t contested for six years. He was victorious in his last cross-country race, though, winning at the Cross della Vallagarina in Rovereto back in 2019.
Kipruto may be a teenager and not as fast as Bekele on the track, but the Kenyan is a proven cross-country performer. He claimed bronze in the U20 race at last year’s World Cross, and this winter has notched up victories at the Cinque Mulini and the Festival du Cross Country in Carhaix. A win on Monday would put him in the joint lead in the Cross Country Tour standings.
Like Bekele, Kipruto is fresh from a victory on New Year’s Eve, having won over 5km in Barcelona in 13:28.
It won’t be just a two-man race, though, as eight of the top-10 finishers from last year’s Campaccio are returning.
Uganda’s 2022 world 5000m bronze medallist Oscar Chelimo was second at Campaccio last year. More recently, he also finished second in Amorebieta and Atapuerca in October, and then placed fifth on the roads in Bolzano behind Bekele.
Burundian duo Egide Ntakarutimana and Celestin Ndikumana finished fourth and fifth respectively in last year’s race. They’ll be joined by young compatriots Emile Hafashimana and Lionel Nihimbazwe, who respectively placed fifth over 3000m and seventh over 5000m at the World U20 Championships last year and will be making their Campaccio debuts.
South African 5km record-holder Maxime Chaumeton finished fourth in Bolzano on New Year’s Eve, just ahead of Chelimo, and will be aiming to be competitive once again on Monday.
Belgian 10,000m champion Guillaume Grimard, Olympic steeplechase fourth-place finisher Mohamed Amin Jhinaoui of Tunisia, 2:06:06 marathon performer Iliass Aouani and Turin Marathon champion Pasquale Selvarolo – who placed sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth respectively last year – are all returning for Monday’s race.
It has been 31 years since there was an Italian winner at Campaccio, but there’s a strong chance that drought will end on Monday thanks to the presence of Nadia Battocletti.
The double European champion and Olympic 10,000m silver medallist has carried her strong track form into the winter season. After a third-place finish at the Cinque Mulini in November, she went on to win in Alcobendas and then at the European Cross Country Championships in Antalya.
Like Bekele, she too won in Bolzano on New Year’s Eve, taking the women’s 5km title in 15:31. After finishing second last year, she’ll now start as the overwhelming favourite against a largely domestic field.
Compatriot Elisa Palmero will perhaps be Battocletti’s strongest opponent. She finished sixth in the 10,000m at the European Championships last year in a PB of 31:38.45, just two days after placing 15th in the half marathon in a PB of 1:11:22. Palmero was sixth in Bolzano on New Year’s Eve, and earlier in December she placed 13th at the European Cross.
Fellow Italians Rebecca Lonedo and Michela Cesaro, who were fifth and sixth respectively last year, are also in the line-up, as is Burundi’s Micheline Niyomahoro and Finland’s mountain running specialist Susanna Saapunki.
