NAPLES. Yeman Crippa disintegrates the Italian leadership of the half marathon, triumphing at the Naples City Half Marathon with a time of 59:26: no blue before him had managed to run the half in less than an hour.
The 25-year-old from Trentino of the Fiamme Oro also becomes the second European of all times, thirteen seconds off the continental record of the Swiss Julien Wanders (59:13).
The blue parades the Italian record from Eyob Faniel who had brought him to 1h00: 07 last February at the Siena-Ampugnano half-way, an event that had marked Yeman’s own debut in the half, with retirement due to injury after a few kilometers.
Today is a completely different Crippa: on his return from six weeks on high ground in Iten, Kenya, he beats all the Africans at the finish line in the Fuorigrotta district, lining up the Kenyans Joshua Belet (59:28), Josphat Kipkemboi Kemei (59: 32), Josphat Kiprotich (59:35), the Ethiopian Mogos Tuemay (1h00: 11) and the European record holder Wanders (1h00: 28, sixth).