Salvatore Costantino

Italian marathoner Salvatore Costantino stood out at age 21 by winning the national championship in Roma on 22 September 1940, with a time of 2-35:43. The following year he led the Italian lists with 2-32:33, set in Padova in October, while in 1942, despite being the favorite, he finished only seventh in the National Championship in Novara.

After the war, Costantino made a comeback in Napoli where he won his second national title in 2-48:12. At the 1948 London Games Costantino won his only international cap but he was not physically well and almost immediately dropped out of the race. Costantino also won three national titles in half-marathon, in 1941, 1943, and 1947.

Costantino was a torchbearer for the 1960 Roma Olympics, carrying the torch into the Napoli area. A public park, with an athletics track, located in Napoli’s Soccavo district, where he was born, was named in his honor.

Personal Best: Mar – 2-32:33 (1941).