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Olympic marathon champion Stefano Baldini plans 2007

Posted January 18th, 2007 at 11:09 AM by Doug Berger

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Olympics

Italian marathon champion Stefano Baldini may never be able to top his 2004 season (when he won the Olympic gold in the marathon), but 2006 was certainly a successful season. Baldini won the European marathon title in Sweden, finished sixth at the ING New York City Marathon (2:11:33) and improved his own national record to 2:07:22 at the Flora London Marathon.

Although Baldini had hoped to do better in New York, he did have an average marathon time of 2:10:35 for the season and was anything but disappointed:

“Looking back at 2006 it was one of the best years in my career. I hope that 2007 will be as successful as 2006.”

So with 2007 now under way, what exactly are this champion’s plans for the new year?

First and foremost, he will be returning to Namibia, the country where he spent the past several winter seasons for training. He will be preparing for a host of competitive events, including the Italian Club Cross Country Championships in February and then the Flora London Marathon.

However, Baldini will really be focused on 2008 with his sights set on another Olympic gold at the Beijing Olympics. Baldini explains:

“I want to stay healthy in 2007 and begin my preparation for Beijing in good form. The World Championships in Osaka (25 August-2 September) is also important for me but I fear that the hot and humid climate in the Japanese city at that time of the year may affect my preparation for Beijing. I would like to run in Osaka because running championships races always motivates me but at this stage of my career I have to be careful if I want to be in my best form for Beijing 2008 which will be the final big marathon race of my career.”

Sources for more information: [European Athletics]