Stefano Baldini at the Flora London Marathon press conference - 13 April 2005 (© Getty Images)
Italian Stefano Baldini, bronze medallist in Edmonton 2001 and Paris 2003, and of course the Olympic winner, will start the Marathon as favourite on 13 August.
The race will begin by Helsinki’s main market square.
The 34-year-old protégé of Luciano Gigliotti is a skilled in peaking his condition for major championships as about anyone in the world. Another skilled athlete of the same coach was the 1988 Seoul gold medallist Gelindo Bordin.
Baldini who raced in Helsinki already in the 1994 European Championships (then 20th at 10,000m), and later (1998) won that the continental title meet, has run 12 times a sub-2:10 result. It is expected that Baldini’s strongest challenger will be Brasilian Vanderlei de Lima, who in Athens easily led the marathon until he dramatically lost his chances a few kilometres before the finish line when a defrocked catholic priest attacked him and pushed him from the course.
Olympic bronze medallist Vanderlei de Lima will surely seek to compensate for his disappointment of Athens. In Helsinki the security measures will be tight on the loop course.
American Mebrahtom Keflezighi took silver medal in Athens, but in Helsinki the Eritrean born runner will concentrate on 10,000m. The Kenyan team is missing London Marathon winner Martin Lel, but contains among others Joseph Riri (2:09:00), Joseph Cheporor (2:06:23), and Wilson Onsare (2:12:21).
London runner-up and World champion in Paris 2003, Jaouad Gharib of Morocco (2:07:49), the seemingly ever strong Spaniard Julio Rey (2:07:38), who finished second in Paris, New York champion South-African Hendrik Ramaala (2:08:32) and the Japanese squad led by Toshinari Takaoka (2:07:41) are all good candidates for the top three.
Helsinki 2005 media team
