Chia 2016: Under 23 preview

06 Dicembre 2016

It’s the third day of training camp in Chia on the province of Cagliari for the Italian team, who is going to face the SPAR European Cross Country Championships. After yesterday’s rain, weather changed completely today. It’s sunny with an almost spring temperature. The Italian team is going on training on the course, which will turn into the arena of cross country competitions on Sunday 11th December, when 12 continental crowns (six individual and six team titles) will be at stake. Reigning double European Junior cross country champion Yeman Crippa is training to be ready for his debut in the U23 category.

Men’s under 23 race (8150m; start at 11.50): For Yeman Crippa it’s time to make the debut in the under 23 age category. The 20-year-old Italian team runner dominated the junior race in the past two editions. He won two gold medals in Samokov 2014 and Hyères 2015 guiding his teammates to the podium. The young Italian policeman was born on 15th October 1996 in Ethiopia, but he and his brothers have found a new home and a new family in the mountain region of Trentino for many years. Yeman is the reigning Italian senior cross country champion and finished eighth at the European Championships in Amsterdam in the 5000m earlier this year. This season he improved his 1500m personal best to 3:38.95 and won the Italian title over this distance after taking the victory in the 3000m at the Italian Indoor Championships. The cross country is still his favourite discipline. Two weeks ago he finished seventh but second among European runners in a test race in Alcobendas. However, he will face a very strong opposition as the line-up will feature the entire podium of last year’s edition including Great Britain’s Jonny Davies (gold), Spain’s Carlos Mayo (who also won the silver medal in the junior race in 2014 behind Crippa) and Germany’s Amanal Petros (bronze), while European senior champion Ali Kaya, a Turkish runner of Kenyan origin, has been entered in the under 23 race but has withdrawn. The Italian team will be also represented by two members of the “dream team”, who shone in the junior age category: 2014 European Junior bronze medallist Said Ettaqy, the middle-distance “rapper” Yassin Bouih. The home team also features Italo Quazzola, a 3000m steeplechase runner from Piedmont and twin brothers Lorenzo and Samuele Dini. Besides the two brothers from Livorno born in 1994, the Italian team also includes another twin pair formed by 19-year-old Giulia and Federica Zanne from Lombardia. Both the Dini brothers come back from a series of injury problems, which have recently hampered their progress. In 2013 they won the European Junior Championships silver medal in Rieti in the 10000m and in the 5000m respectively. In the past edition of the European Cross Country Championships, Lorenzo finished sixth in the under 23 race, when the Italian team was fourth. No less than 81 runners are expected to line up in this category on the 8150m distance.

The 2015 podium: Individual race:  1 Jonny Davies (Great Britain); 2 Carlos Mayo (Spain); 3 Amanal Petros (Spain); Team race: 1 Spain; 2 Great Britain; 3 France; 4 Italy

Women’s under 23 race (6150m; start at 11.10): Fifty percent of the Italian team is the same which won the bronze medal in France one year ago. Christine Santi from Emilia, Costanza Martinetti from Umbria and Silvia Oggioni from Lombardia will run again for the Italian Under 23 team. European indoor 1500m bronze medallist Federica Del Buono, who finished seventh in last year’s edition, will not compete as she is not in top shape yet. The team will feature also Alice Cocco from Sardinia, Giulia Mattioli from Emilia, who won three national under 23 titles in the 10000m, in the 10 km road race and in the half marathon, and former junior mountain runner Roberta Ciappini. No less than 60 runners are expected to line up in the 6150m race. As the defending champion Louise Carton from Belgium has opted to run in the senior race, some of the medal favourites are Poland’s Sofia Ennaoui, Olympic finalist in the 1500m, Turkey’s Tugba Guvenc, reigning European U23 champion in 3000m steeplechase, and Germany’s Maya Rehberg, bronze medallist in 2012 junior race but also European steeplechase finalist in Amsterdam.

The 2015 Podium: 1 Louise Carton (Belgium), 2 Jip Vastenburg (Netherlands); 3 Amela Terzic (Serbia); Team ranking: 1 Great Britain; 2 France; 3 Italy

Condividi con

Tweet

Seguici su: