With 70 days to go, an exciting and iconic half marathon course taking in many of Rome’s most famous landmarks has been unveiled for the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships from 7-12 June.
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And for the first time since Gothenburg 2006, the half marathon or marathon course at a European Athletics Championships will finish inside the main stadium. Incidentally, the winner of the men’s marathon at the 2006 European Athletics Championships was Italian legend Stefano Baldini.
Both half marathons take place on Sunday 9 June on a largely flat and spectator-friendly course, allowing fans to spot their favourite runners multiple times on their 13.1 mile journeys.
Dramatic start at Foro Imperiali
The men’s race is scheduled for 9.00am followed by the women’s race at 9.30am with the Fori Imperiali providing an impressive and dramatic backdrop for the start of both races.
From there, the course passes some of the most iconic sites of the host city, running alongside the Altare della Patria in Piazza Venezia, then crossing the Corso Vittorio Emanuele II and Piazza Navona, heading for Castel Sant'Angelo and St. Peter's Square, before moving towards Piazza Mazzini and reaching Lungotevere Guglielmo Oberdan, the main road along the River Tiber.
After six kilometres, the athletes will then complete three loops of a circuit which passes the Ponte della Musica and crosses the Tiber on Ponte Duca D'Aosta.
The closing kilometres of the course will be run through the grounds of the Foro Italico Park before a grandstand finish inside the Stadio Olimpico where the individual and team champions will be crowned.
And after the conclusion of the half marathon, the morning session of athletics will continue with a packed programme including the qualifying round of the men’s high jump featuring reigning Olympic and European champion Gianmarco Tamberi who will be aiming for his third European outdoor title.
Crippa and Yaremchuk to lead Italy's medal hopes
And Italy won’t be without medal chances in the half marathon either. Reigning European 10,000m champion Yemaneberhan Crippa is also the third fastest European half marathon runner in history with his national record of 59:26 while Ukrainian-born Sofia Yaremchuk is currently the fifth fastest European this year with a season’s best of 68:27.
“It will be exciting to run at home in Rome surrounded by culture and such beautiful architecture. There is a lot of expectation for Sunday 9 June and I hope to see a lot of spectators supporting the Italian athletes and champions from all over Europe coming to Rome,” said Crippa.
Yaremchuk said: "I am looking forward to this day of celebration. It will be like running through history: the course is beautiful - from the start in the Fori Imperiali, with the magical Colosseum behind us, to the Foro Italico Park and the finish inside the Olympic Stadium. It will be a fantastic half marathon for Rome which will become the capital of European athletics.”
Historically, the marathon has been part of the European Athletics Championships programme but the half marathon was introduced in 2016 for Olympic-year editions of the European Athletics Championships and will serve as an important stepping stone for Paris 2024-bound marathon runners.
This will be just the second time the half marathon has been held at the European Athletics Championships after Amsterdam 2016 where Switzerland’s Tadesse Abraham and Portugal’s Sara Moreira swept the individual titles.
It was also an auspicious day for Italy who picked up four medals in the half marathon in 2016. Daniele Meucci won individual bronze and led Italy to team silver in the men’s race while Veronica Inglese won individual silver in the women’s race, leading Italy to team silver.