Dawit Seyaum and Tadese Worku claimed an Ethiopian double at the Boclassic, a World Athletics Label road race, on a warm Friday afternoon (31) in Bolzano.
Seyaum beat steeplechase specialist Norah Jeruto in 15:22, the fastest ever winning time in the women’s 5km at Bolzano. With Worku’s 28:18 victory, meanwhile, it means eight of the past 10 men’s races have been won by an Ethiopian.
Jeruto and Seyaum set the early pace and went through the first lap in 3:55 with a one-second lead over Italy’s Nadia Battocletti, who was the only runner able to keep up with the lead duo.
Seyaum and Jeruto increased their lead over Battocletti to seven seconds during the second lap and reached the end of that circuit in 7:45. Seyaum finally broke away from her Kenyan rival with 500 metres to go and held on to win in 15:11, breaking the 15:30 course record that was shared by Margaret Kipkemboi Chelimo and the late Agnes Tirop, for whom there was a minute of silence before the race.
Jeruto, who clocked the third fastest time in history in the 3000m steeplechase in Eugene with 8:53.55 last August and won the Diamond League final in Zurich last September, had to settle for second place with 15:24. Battocletti finished third in 15:55, becoming the first Italian woman since 2011 to make the Boclassic podium.