Emile Cairess leads British challenge at Napoli City Half

Leeds Metropolis runner travels to Italy this weekend for his first race of 2024 over 13.1 miles It could possibly be a giant week for Emile Cairess.

The 26-year-old is anticipated to be named within the first wave of British marathon choices for the Paris Olympics, whereas on Sunday (Feb 25) he takes to the roads within the Napoli Metropolis Half Marathon in Italy.It is going to be Cairess’s first race since New 12 months’s Eve when he completed a detailed runner-up to Marc Scott within the Ribble Valley 10km. A pure goal shall be his PB of 60:32, too, which was set in 2022. The British file, in the meantime, is Farah’s 59:32 from Lisbon in 2015.

The Leeds athlete ran 2:08:07 on his marathon debut in London final 12 months and this month noticed his coaching associate, Phil Sesemann, additionally beat the Olympic qualifying normal of two:08:10 by six seconds in Seville.

That is the tenth operating of the Napoli Metropolis Half and the course shouldn’t be solely scenic however fast. In 2022, for instance, Yeman Crippa ran an Italian file and course file in Napoli of 59:26, wheras Viola Cheptoo of Kenya holds the ladies’s course file with 66:47.

Cairess’s rivals on Sunday embrace Brian Kwemoi of Kenya, who ran 59:37 in Beijing final 12 months. Kenyans Benard Biwott and Anthony Kimtai, whose bests are 59:44 and 60:30 respectively, are additionally anticipated to determine.

Be careful as effectively for Mosinet Geremew of Ethiopia, the world silver medallist within the marathon in 2019 and 2022 whose finest is a swift 2:02:55, whereas his half-marathon finest is 59:11. Additionally from Ethiopia, Mulugetu Debasu has a marathon PB of two:06:36.

Within the girls’s race Angela Tanui of Kenya, the 2019 winner in Napoli, returns to the occasion and has a better of 67:16. Sofiia Yaremchuk, the current Italian marathon record-breaker with 2:23:16, can also be within the line-up.

Race director Carlo Capalbo says: “We’re trying ahead to witnessing two very intently fought races and with such nice competitors from around the globe lining up right here in Napoli we’re excited at the potential for new course information in each the lads’s and girls’s occasions.”

The occasion is dwell streamed on Sunday. See beneath.

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