From the record set in the 2018 Pettinengo International Giro to the one centered in the EDP Lisbon Half Marathon. That the Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo could be predestined and had all the numbers of the champion, Claudio Piana, heart and mind of Biella Sport Promotion and Gac Pettinengo, had also noticed, when three years ago he saw the African athlete cross the finish line , after 9.6 km, in 26’22 ”. «He was only 18 years old – remembers Piana -. He was the youngest winner and was already on the launch pad. He trained a lot in Italy and runs for Atletica Casone Noceto, a club that I will weave just a few days before coming to Pettinengo ».
On Sunday in Lisbon, in an almost solitary race (the long gallop-record began at the fourth kilometer) Kiplimo took the record of 21.0975 km to 57’31, just one second better than the time set last year in Valencia by Kibiwott Kandie, but with a monstrous passage at the fifteenth kilometer in 40’27 ”, the enormity of 38 seconds under the best world performance over distance. An extraordinary result, built above all in the central part of the race. The transit at the tenth kilometer in 27’05 ” (twenty seconds better than Kandie) and even more that at the fifteenth, let us presage a projection close to the unthinkable “wall” of 57 minutes. “The course was fast, but it’s a crazy result, thinking that the hares only helped him for a few kilometers,” continues Piana. In the last segment the Ugandan’s legs struggled to keep up with the pace of the mid-stage of the race, but he managed to save the record goal. “Half marathons depend on the routes and in Spain, in addition to the favorable route, the climate is also generally optimal”.
2022 should finally be the year of the return of the international Giro di Pettinengo, after a two-year stop, which will celebrate its fiftieth edition. «I sincerely hope so – concludes Piana -. This year the event organized in the city center was a success: it will remain unrepeatable thanks to the presence of the two Olympic gold medals in the march. However, Pettinengo retains a very special charm: not only a parade of champions, but also a lot of promotion for young people with the trophy of the Provinces. For us it is an important investment, in which we pay the costs of transporting the children, with a budget of 10 thousand euros aimed at them ».