•Simiu will face a stern test from Uganda’s Oscar Chelimo, who will make his third appearance at the Campaccio after finishing third in 2021 and fourth in 2022.
•The 28-year-old last raced on 17 December in Kolkata where he won the 25km event in a world best of 1:11:13 and he will be looking to carry that form through to 2024.
Image: FILE
Daniel Simiu highlights the 67th edition of the Campaccio-International Cross Country in San Giorgio su Legnano, Italy, on Saturday.
This will be the 28-year-old world 10,000m silver medallist first race of the year. He last raced in Kolkata, India, on December 17 where he won the 25km road race in a world best of 1:11:13.
Simiu had a successful 2023, winning a half marathon silver medal at the World Road Running Championships in Riga, Latvia.
He will face a stern test from Uganda’s Oscar Chelimo, who will make his third appearance at the Campaccio after finishing third in 2021 and fourth in 2022.
Chelimo, the younger brother of Jacob Kiplimo, won the world 5000m bronze medal in Oregon in 2022 and finished third at the Cross Internacional de San Sebastian last November.
Celestin Ndikumana and Egide Ntakarutimana from Burundi will be looking to follow in the footsteps of their compatriot Rodrigue Kwizera, who won last year’s race.
Ndikumana claimed victory in the World Cross Country Tour Gold race in Amorebieta, while Ntakarutimana finished fifth in last year’s edition of the Campaccio.
The Italian contingent is led by marathon runners Nekagenet Crippa, Iliass Aouani and Yohanes Chiappinelli. Crippa, elder brother of Yeman Crippa, finished sixth at the Rome Marathon in 2:12:11 on his debut over this distance and improved his PB to 2:07:35 in Valencia in December, achieving a qualifying standard for the Olympic Games in Paris.
Aouani ran 2:08:34 on his marathon debut in Milan in 2022 and improved Eyob Faniel’s Italian record to 2:07:16 in Barcelona in 2023 before finishing seventh at the New York Marathon in 2:10:54.
He finished sixth in 2021 and eighth in 2022 in his previous two appearances at the Campaccio.
Chiappinelli, the 2018 European 3000m steeplechase bronze medallist, ran 2:09:46 on his marathon debut in Seville and finished 11th at the World Championships in Budapest in August.
The line-up of Italian runners is completed by Ala Zoghlami, a four-time Italian champion in the 3000m steeplechase.
The women’s race features Italian distance running star Nadia Battocletti, who won silver at the European Cross Country Championships in Brussels in December on her debut in the senior category following her gold medals in the U20 category in 2018 and 2019 and in the U23 category in 2021 and 2022.
Before that race in Brussels, she finished fifth in the 5km at the World Road Running Championships in Riga with a national record of 14:45.
Last weekend Battocletti won the 5km Boclassic in Bolzano, beating Nelly Chepchirchir and Margaret Chelimo Kipkemboi to become the first Italian athlete to win the event since Maria Curatolo in 1988.
Her challengers this time include Francine Niyomukunzi from Burundi, who finished ninth in the 5km at the World Road Running Championships and improved her PB to 8:44.18 in the 3000m in Xiamen last September. Niyomukunzi’s compatriot Micheline Niyomahoro will make her debut at Campaccio.