Nadia Battocletti wants to break another taboo
Nadia Battocletti at Campaccio
Not since 1994 has an Italian won the Campaccio: thirty years ago Silvia Sommaggio’s success. Trying for it on Epiphany Day will be Nadia Battocletti, fresh from victory in another race that was a tab for Italian women athletes since 1988, the BOclassic in Bolzano. In San Giorgio su Legnano on Saturday Jan. 6 the most eagerly awaited athlete is precisely the Trentino-born member of the Fiamme Azzurre, a silver medalist at the last European Cross Championships in Brussels and ready to launch her own 2024 on the lawns of the cross-country classic, a Gold leg of the World Athletics Cross Country Tour. As the main African opponent on this occasion, è announced is Burundian Francine Niyomukunzi, in the top ten at the World Road Running Championships in Riga in the 5 km (ninth). Also from Burundi at the start of the 6 km also Micheline Niyomahoro, and è thick representation of the blue women, which includes Anna Arnaudo (Battaglio Cus Torino), Federica Del Buono (Carabinieri), Rebecca Lonedo (Fiamme Oro), Giovanna Selva (Carabinieri), Sara Nestola (Calcestruzzi Corradini Excelsior), Elisa Palmero (Esercito), Elisa Bortoli (Esercito), Valeria Roffino (Fiamme Azzurre), Micol Majori (Pro Sesto Atl. Cernusco).
Among the men (10 km) the most quoted è the Kenyan Daniel Ebenyo, vice world champion of the 10,000 meters in Budapest and of the half in Riga, who will have to face the Ugandan Oscar Chelimo (Atl. Casone Noceto), winner of the bronze medal at the World Championships in Eugene in the 5,000 meters, with Burundian Celestin Ndikumana who scored in the international cross in Amorebieta and third in Alcobendas, and compatriot Egide Ntakarutimana. Ethiopia represented by Kuma Girma and Yohanes Asmare. Italy presents, among others, marathon record-holder Iliass Aouani (Fiamme Azzurre), hedge runner Ala Zoghlami (Fiamme Oro), and Brussels EuroCross Italians Luca Alfieri (Atl. Casone Noceto) and Italo Quazzola (Atl. Casone Noceto).
For the’67th edition, organizers announced the presence of nearly 1,800 athletes in various categories, from beginners to masters. The event will be anticipated in the afternoon of Friday, Jan. 5 at 4 p.m. (PalaBertelli, San Giorgio su Legnano) by the international conference “Strength to endure or all about super-shoes?”, organized by US Sangiorgese and open to FIDAL coaches (0.5 training credits) and all athletics enthusiasts.
