Stefano Baldini
ITALY
BIRTHDATE:
May 25, 1971
PERSONAL BEST:
2:07:22 (London, 2006)
WORLD MARATHON MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS:
04Nov07 ING New York City Marathon 4th 2:11:58
22Apr07 Flora London Marathon DNF
05Nov06 ING New York City Marathon 6th 2:11:33
23Apr06 Flora London Marathon 5th 2:07:22
13Aug05 IAAF World Championships Marathon DNF
17Apr05 Flora London Marathon 5th 2:09:25
29Aug04 Olympic Marathon, Athens 1st 2:10:55
18Apr04 Flora London Marathon 4th 2:08:37
30Aug03 IAAF World Championships Marathon 3rd 2:09:14
13Apr03 Flora London Marathon 2nd 2:07:56
03Nov02 New York City Marathon 5th 2:09:12
14Apr02 Flora London Marathon 6th 2:07:29
03Aug01 IAAF World Championships Marathon 3rd 2:13:18
01Oct00 Olympic Marathon, Sydney, DNF
16Apr00 Flora London Marathon 6th 2:09:45
02Nov97 New York City Marathon 3rd 2:09:31
13Apr97 Flora London Marathon 2nd 2:07:57
ADDITIONAL CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:
13Aug06 European Championships 6th 2:11:32
28Oct01 Madrid Marathon 1st 2:09:59
01Apr01 Turin Marathon 2nd 2:08:51
22Aug98 European Championships 1st 2:12:01
29Mar98 Rome Marathon 1st 2:09:33
29Oct95 Venice Marathon (80m short) 6th 2:11:01
CAREER NOTES:
Stefano Baldini's excellent marathon career has been capped by a gold medal at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. He won by a 34-second margin, cracking Bill Adcocks’ celebrated course record from Marathon to Athens with a time of 2:10:55. He covered the second half in a remarkable 63:18 and the 5k from 35k to 40k in an extraordinary 14:13.
Baldini was a world-class track runner with personal bests of 7:43.14 in the 3,000m, 13:23.43 in the 5,000m and 27:43.98 in the 10,000m in 1996 (the year he captured the World Half Marathon title). In 1997 he first made his mark on the marathon world finishing second - two seconds behind António Pinto - in London and third in New York.
He won his first marathon in 1998 in Rome and then won again at the 1998 European Championships in Budapest. After dropping out of Sydney Olympics marathon he finished second in Turin (2:08:51), and third in the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton (the only European among the top 10 finishers).
After returning to the track to place fourth in the 2002 European 10,000m, he finished fifth in New York. In 2003 he came close to winning the London race, but Gezahegne Abera outsprinted him by inches for the win. He proceeded to take the bronze medal at the 2003 World Championships in Paris. In 2004, Baldini tuned up for Olympic glory running 2:08:37 at London in April.
In 2006 he had another splendid year in marathon running. He lowered his own Italian national record at London, placing fifth in 2:07:22 and then won another gold medal at the European Championships. He was also sixth at the ING New York City Marathon.
After an atypical drop-out at the Flora London Marathon in April 2007, Baldini returned to New York City in November and had another top-5 finish, placing fourth in 2:11:58.
Baldini's 11 top-5 placing in World Marathon Majors is the most among active runners and fourth best all-time. He has run 13 lifetime sub-2:10 marathons, tied with Abdelkader el Mouaziz for the most ever in a career.
PERSONAL NOTES:
Baldini is the eighth of 10 brothers, one of whom (Marco) ran a 2:16:32 marathon (on a short course in 1995). He was married to Italian 400m record holder (at 51.31 in 1997) Virna De Angeli, but they are now separated.
