Cruiciata broke world records for the women's one hour run in 1980 and 1981 – she managed a distance of 17.563 km in Milan in 1980 and improved upon this with a distance of 18.084 km in Rome the following year (also setting a best time of 49:44 minutes for the 15,000 m track run).[9] Her hour run record was a long-standing achievement and the mark went unbeaten until 1998 when Kenyan Tegla Loroupe broke the record.[10] Cruciata's performance remains the best ever by a European, as well as being the Italian national record.[11] She also ran a career best of 4:24.6 minutes for the mile at the DN Galan that year and this remains the stadium record for the event.[12]
She also focused on road running events in her later career. She took three straight victories at the Stramilano Half Marathon from 1976 to 1978, and took a fourth win in 1981.[13] Her performances of 1:22:05 hours in 1977 and 1:18:44 hours in 1978 were world's best performances for women over the distance.[14] She had her first wins over the marathon at the Monza Marathon in 1976 and 1977,[15] but her career best came in 1980 at the San Silvestro Marathon in Rome, where her time of 2:44:31 was a course record.[16] In 1981 she won the Maratonina dei tre comuni, Rome-Ostia Half Marathon and the Amatrice-Configno race.[17] She had a consecutive victory at the Tre Comuni in 1982 and won the Rome-Ostia competition for a second time in 1984.[18][19]
