Posted: December 22, 2005

Athletics: Boclassic Loses Baldini And Ritzenhein

From David Monti

© 2005 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

Sergey Lebid wins the Boclassic in 2001, beating Richard Limo (RRW photo).

The 31st Corsa Internazionale di San Silvestro "Boclassic" lost two key athletes today. The New Year's Eve race in Bolzano, Italy, announced that Olympic marathon gold medalist, Stefano Baldini, and U.S. collegiate 10,000m record holder, Dathan Ritzenhein, were forced to withdraw with injuries.

"As you know this is not good news for an organizer one week before the race," said Gianni Demadonna who acts as the elite athlete coordinator for the event.

Baldini is suffering from tendonitis, while Ritzenhein's injury wasn't disclosed.

Still, the men's field includes newly crowned European Cross Country champion, Sergey Lebid of Ukraine, who has won in Bolzano five times (including the last four years in a row) and Benjamin Limo of Kenya, the world 5000m champion. Headlining the women's field is Susan Chepkemei of Kenya, who won in Bolzano in 2001 and was second at the ING New York City Marathon last month.