Seregno, Italy, April 22. Amy Sproston of Portland, Oregon, who had been hospitalized with deep vein thrombosis only last month, won the World IAU 100K Championships in a thrilling finish. Sproston, along with teammate Meghan Arbogast and Kasja Berg of Sweden all passed through 90km within 15 seconds of each other, with Russian Irina Vishnevskaja less than a minute back. Sproston pulled away in the final few kilometers for the victory, winning in 7:34:08. Sproston’s time places her fourth on the all-time US women’s list. Arbogast finished fourth in 7:41:52, a personal best at age 51, decimating her own age-group world record for the 100K distance. Pam Smith finished fifth to clinch the gold medal for the US women. All of the top three US women are from Oregon.
Italy’s Girogio Calcaterra won the men’s race handily in a swift 6:23:20. Sweden’s Jonas Buud was second. American men ran well, with David Riddle, Jon Olsen, Michael Wardian and Joseph Binder placing fifth, seventh, eighth and tenth, respectively. The American men took the silver medal in the team championship, behind host Italy.
Men
1. Girogio Calcaterra, 39, Italy, 6:23:20
2. Jonas Buud, 37, Sweden, 6:28:57
3. Alberico Di Cecco, 38, Italy, 6:40:30
4. Asier Cuevas, 40, Spain, 6:44:54
5. David Riddle, 30, Cincinnati, OH, 6:45:19
also
7. Jon Olsen, 37, Modesto, CA, 6:48:52
8. Michael Wardian, 37, Arlington, VA, 6:48:59
10. Joseph Binder, 28, Berkeley, CA, 6:54:31
Women
1. Amy Sproston, 38, Portland, OR, 7:34:08
2. Kasja Berg, 33, Sweden, 7:35:23
3. Irina Vishnevskaja, 29, Russia, 7:36:01
4. Meghan Arbogast, 51, Corvallis, OR, 7:41:52
5. Pam Smith, 37, Salem, OR, 7:43:04
Thanks to Meghan Hicks of irunfar.com for excellent on-site coverage via Twitter.
