Minsk (BLR) today hosts an interesting U20 indoor meeting.
The junior men and women of ten countries face each other in the formula of one athlete per race.
Participating countries are:
Belarus (BLR)
Azerbaijan (AZE)
Israel (ISR)
Italy (ITA)
Spain (ESP)
Latvia (LAT)
Lithuania (LTU)
Kazakhstan (KAZ)
Poland (POL)
Turkey (TUR)
Estonia (EST)
Ukraine (UKR)
The two walking races are both held on the first day
- 5:35 pm: indoor women, but on the distance of 5,000m instead of the usual 3,000m
- 18:15: indoor men
5.000m indoor walk women
Evin Demir (TUR), who was also the athlete with the best time, goes immediately to lead the race.
About twenty metres a small group made up of Hanna Zubkova (BLR), who however competes only individually, Sara Buglisi (ITA), Dana Marozava (BLR) who instead competes for the team.
Evir Demir's leadership is never questioned.
For just a moment shortly after 4,000m Hanna Zubkova tries to reach her, but as soon as she approaches her, Turkey lengthens her pace and maintains her leadership.
Always in third position the very good Sara Buglisi (ITA) recently winner in Ancona of the Italian U20 title.
Victory for Evin Demir (TUR) in 22:39.71
The young athlete from Turkey has a personal best on the same outdoor distance of 23:25.54 obtained in Buenos Aires (ARG) on 12.10.2018 obtained in the first heat of the Youth Olympic Games. This is a significant step forward today.
Second place for Hanna Zubkova (BLR) in 22:43.68
Third place to Sara Buglisi (ITA) in 23:01.30
Even for the young athlete from Italy, today's mark are much better than the personal best on the same outdoor distance (24:58.31) obtained in Bressanone (ITA) on 20.5.2018. Last 8.2.2020 at the Palaindoor in Ancona on the occasion of the U20 Italian Championships she had obtained a mark of 13:17.40 on the usual distance of 3.000m indoor walk.
5.000m indoor walk men
Great and undisputed victory for Davide Finocchietti (ITA).
Pedro Gonesa (ESP) and Serhat Gungor (TUR) go immediately to lead, with almost five meters ahead of the pair composed by Anton Bildziuha (BLR) and Davide Finocchietti (ITA).
Towards the second kilometer, the four are still together, but there is a strong-willed Finocchietti who paws and the coach Alessandro Gandellini who gestures for him to be patient.
Shortly afterwards Serhat Gungor (TUR) loses a few meters and the group remains in three.
At the subsequent forcing of the pace of Davide Finocchietti the situation is unlocked and becomes the definitive one.
Victory for Davide Finocchietti (ITA) in 20:32.94.
For him the new personal best in a very convincing and perfectly managed race. The previous personal besta on indoor distance was 20: 58.70 and dates back to the Italian U20 Championships in Ancona (ITA) of 8.2.2020.
Second place to the home athlete Anton Bildziuha (BLR) in 20:52.53
Third place to Pedro Conesa (ESP) in 20:558.48
These are the three athletes who broke the 21:00.00 wall.
More photos: click here
Full results in the section Results or directly download from this link: click here