Gulnara Samitova Galkina winning in Bolzano (© Lorenzo Sampaolo)
Bolzano, ItalyEdwin Soi from Kenya and Gulnara Samitova Galkina from Russia took the honours at the traditional end-of-year Boclassic Silvesterlauf Road Race in Bolzano on Wednesday (31) in front of about 10,000 spectators who packed the Waltherplatz and the streets in the heart of Bolzano.
Soi, Olympic bronze medallist in the 5000 metres and winner at the IAAF World Athletics Final in Stuttgart over the same distance in 2007 and 2008, scored his second consecutive win in the 10 km road race in Bolzano crossing the finish-line in 28:55. The Kenyan beat Sergiy Lebid, eight-times European Cross Country champion and five-times Boclassic winner. Sale Betona Warga from Ethiopia, second in the Boclassic in 2006, took third place holding off Olympic marathon silver medallist and twice World champion Jaouad Gharib from Morocco. Former Olympic marathon champion Stefano Baldini was the first Italian in fifth place.
Another Olympic medallist from Bejing, Samitova Galkina, who was the first woman in history to break the 9 minutes barrier in the 3000m Steeplechase running 8:58.81 in Bejing, added her name to the prestigious list of past winners of the Boclassic with a solid win in the 5 km women’s race. All three winners of the last three editions went to the podium this year with Samitova in first place ahead of 2006 winner Aniko Kalovics and last year’s first placer Sylvia Kibet who had to be content with third place this time.
Samitova has become the first Russian to win the Boclassic since 1993 when Lyudmila Borisova took the honours.
Men’s race:
In the early stages of the race the two marathon top runners Baldini and Gharib ran in the front at the first lap leading a big pack which featured all the favourites: Soi, Lebid and Warga. They took 3:38 to cover the first of eight laps of the fascinating course in the centre of the Northern Italian town.
Italian cross country specialist Gabriele De Nard went to the front briefly at the end of the second lap but the leading pack with all the big names was in control of the race.
Baldini managed to keep the pace with the leading group until the fourth lap when Warga launched the intermediate halfway sprint to win the special 300 Euro bonus for the athlete in the lead after the fourth lap.
Soi, Lebid, Gharib and Warga broke away from Baldini who was dropped after the intermediate sprint. During the fifth lap Soi broke away from the four-men pack building up a gap of 20 seconds but the race for the final win was not over because Lebid did not give up and tried to close the gap on the Kenyan top runner.
Soi increased the pace carving out a decisive gap over Lebid during the last lap and cruised to his second win in Bolzano holding off Lebid by four seconds.
“It was a difficult race because I ran only three days ago in Houilles where I finished second,” Soi said. “I am proud because I won against very strong rivals. I am planning to run the Campaccio on 6 January where I will face Lebid again. This winter my goal is to run at the World Cross Country Championships in Amman.”.
Bolzano crowd favourite Lebid had mixed feeling about his second place. “I am happy with the race but I wanted to win today. Bolzano is very special because I consider it as my second home.”
Women’s race:
Samitova Galkina went to the front in the early stages of the 5 km women’s race followed by Kalovics. Last year’s winner Sylvia Kibet, fourth in the 5000 metres at both the World Championships in Osaka and the Olympic Games in Beijing, was also in the leading pack.
Samitova and Kalovics upped the pace during the second of four laps. They launched their attack to win the intermediate sprint worth a bonus of 300 Euro. They ran neck and neck to the halfway mark with the Russian prevailing by a very narrow margin.
Samitova launched her attack pulling away from Kalovics during the fourth and last lap. The Russian star increased her gap over Kalovics cruising to a solid win in 15:59, eight seconds faster than Kalovics.
“It was the first time I ran a race on 31 December and this makes the win very special,” said Samitova Galkina. “I found the weather conditions very cold because I came from a training camp in Portugal.”
This race crowns a perfect year for the Russian who is the first ever women’s 3000 metres Steeplechase Olympic champion. “In Beijing I fulfilled my lifetime dream to win the Olympic gold medal with a new World record.”
The Russian will face Kalovics once again on 6 January at the Campaccio in San Giorgio su Legnano, the first big Italian Cross Country of the year. Kalovics was delighted with her runner-up place. “I came back from a training camp in South Africa at the end of December. Today the early pace was slow, then Gulnara pushed her pace to win the halfway sprint.”
Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF
Leading Results -
Men’s race (10 km):
1. Edwin Soi (Kenya) 28:55
2. Sergiy Lebid (Ukraine) 28:59
3. Betona Sahle Warga (Ethiopia) 29:13
4. Jaouad Gharib (Morocco) 29:22
5. Stefano Baldini (Italy) 29:33
6. James Theuri (France) 29:44
7. Gabriele De Nard (Italy) 29:44
8. Daniele Caimmi (Italy) 29:46
9. Markus Ploner (Italy) 29:59
10. Mostafah Errebah (Italy) 30:23
Women’s race (5 km) :
1. Gulnara Samitova Galkina (Russia) 15:59
2. Aniko Kalovics (Hungary) 16:07
3. Sylvia Kibet (Kenya) 16:09
4. Sonja Roman (Slovenia) 16:19
5. Federica Dal Ri (Italy) 16:30
6. Agnes Tschurtschenthaler (Italy) 16:45
7. Tetyana Holovchenko (Ukraine) 16:48
8. Elisa Cusma (Italy) 17:00
9. Vendula Frintova (Czech Republic) 17:02
10. Rosalba Console (Italy) 17:06
