Last weekend the 69th edition of the Spanish U18 Championships took place in Tarragona with track walking races on the following distances: 10.000m for U18 boys and 5.000m for U18 girls
5.000m track walk U18 girls
The women's race took place on Saturday 17 October with 13 athletes at the start.
The fight for victory was immediately restricted to three athletes: Eva Rico Rufas (ESP), Lucia Redondo Ardid (ESP) and Silvia Villar Nieto (ESP)
Victory for Eva Rico Rufas who managed to keep the lead until the end and with a few meters in front of Lucia Redondo Ardid. Hwer mark was 24:07.53.
Second place to Lucia Redondo Ardid who stopped the clock in 24:08:25
Silvia Villar Nieto completed the podium in 24: 23.61.
10.000m track walk U18 boys
The men's race took place on Sunday with 13 athletes at the start.
A painful victory for Pablo Rodríguez Rojas who won the gold medal with a mark of 45:55.92.
In second place Juan Francisco Soto Egea in 46: 52.86, who had also been victorious at the finish line but penalized by 1 minute for having received three red cards, one of which in the last lap.
The third place goes to Pablo Pastor Marín in 47:31.49, also stopped for 1 minute in the penalty area.
Some considerations
The recent competitions of the youth categories in Italy (Molfetta meeting of 26 September, Forlì U16 of 3 October and Modena U18 of 18 October) combined with the matches in Madrid (Spanish U20 Championship, October 3) and today's Championship in Tarragona, have in common one fact which in our opinion should make the experts think.
In all five of these competitions either the winner or some of the medal winners achieved this despite having crossed the finish line with three red cards in their charge.
This is certainly not a good result from a technical point of view.
When in 2013 it was tried to innovate the concept of disqualification in race walking, we started from the youth categories with the aim of educating the youngest by giving them a second chance instead of brutally ending their race. Most of the coaches complained of a loss of young talents who, after one or more disqualifications, turned to other sports.
Hence the choice to offer them a second chance and the first penalties were chosen in such a way that they did not give any chance of a medal to those who benefited from the penalty itself.
The writer was one of the deep supporters of this rule and its staggered application over time also in favor of the higher categories in particular as regards team competitions.
Now we observe that at least in the indicated races we are moving towards a situation in which the effect of the penalty is largely canceled.
Let's take this as a reflection.
Risultati Ufficiali - Official results