Kenya's Patrick Terer winning in Turin (© Giancarlo Colombo)
Kenya's Patrick Kipyegon Terer will be bidding for his second consecutive win at the 27th edition of the Turin Marathon Gran Premio La Stampa, an IAAF Silver Label Road Race, on Sunday (17).
Terer will be looking to improve his personal best of 2:10:10, set when finishing third in Prague this year. On his return to the Piedmont city, Terer will take on his compatriots Benjamin Kiptoo, Samson Kagia and Peter Wanjiru.
Kiptoo starts as the fastest man in the field and won two major marathon races in Rome in 2009 in 2:07:17 and in Paris in 2011 in 2:06:31, his personal best. Kagia’s PB of 2:10:42 is just a fraction slower than Terer’s, while Wanjiru has a best of 2:12:11, set when winning in Krakow last year.
The top Italian runners in the field will be 2011 national champion Giovanni Gualdi, Stefano Scaini, 2001 European cross-country junior bronze medallist Stefano Scaini, the husband of 2010 European Marathon champion Anna Incerti, and Domenico Ricatti who ran his personal best of 2:15:16 in Padua earlier this year.
Home victory expected in women’s race
The women’s race will be an all-European race between Italian runners Ivana Iozzia, the three-time national champion with a PB of 2:34:07, Fatna Maraoui, whose only previous Marathon was a 2:37:22 run in Venice six years ago, and former national 3000m Steeplechase champion Marzena Michalska.
Outside of Italy, Estonia’s Lllina Luik – who has two triplet sisters who are also runners – could get among the top three. She has a PB of 2:42:27 set in Dubai earlier this year.
The 2013 Turin Marathon will set off from Piazza San Carlo and finish in the big Piazza Castello Square in the heart of the Piedmont city which hosted the 2006 Winter Olympic Games and the 2009 European Indoor Championships. The course will run across the neighbouring towns of Moncalieri, Nichelino and Vinovo.
The programme of the 2013 will also feature the 7.5km Stratorino event and the popular junior Marathon for children and families.
Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF
