First day of the National Italian Championships on track with the two walking events, however, carried out on the road over the distance of 10km.
10km men
On Corso Bettini, in the center of Rovereto, a stone's throw from the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Francesco Fortunato (40:02) wins his tenth national Italian title and continues his journey towards the Tokyo Olympics with optimism, for which obtained the registration standard in the 20 km marching in 1h19: 43 in Podebrady.
The route is not exactly easy with the two slightly uphill (and then slightly downhill) at turning points which leaves room for the interpretation of the technical judgment by the jury, which today, according to all the coaches on the course, have operated in an absolutely fair and shareable way, receiving compliments from the Head Coach of the Italian National team prof. Antonio La Torre, well known in the international environment for his studies on biomechanics.
Ten athletes immediately in the lead: Federico Tontodonati, Gianluca Picchiottino, Leonardo Dei Tos, Michele Antonelli, Giacomo Brandi, Andrea Cosi, Riccardo Orsoni, Juriy Micheletti, Giorgio Rubino and Francesco Fortunato.
The first to be detached are Micheletti, Rubino, Antonelli and Cosi while Federico Tontodonati froces his pace in front of the race.
Leonardo Dei Tos, Giacomo Brandi, but above all Gianluca Picchiottino and Francesco Fortunato remain covered.
After the six kilometers Francesco Fortunato breaks the delay and detaches both Picchiottino and Tontodonati who in turn gains a few tens of meters on Picchiottino.
This seems to be the order of arrival, but on the last lap everything changes.
Victory to Francesco Fortunato (ITA) in 40:02
Fight to the last for silver. The check is Gianluca Picchiottino (40:17) who wins the silver after detaching Federico Tontodonati in the last kilometer for 10 seconds (40:27)
Between fourth and sixth place there is a battle up to the last meter.
Giacomo Brandi (40:56) wins in front of Andrea Cosi (40:58) and Riccardo Orsoni (40:58)
10km women
The race dedicated to the memory of the unforgettable Sicilian walker Anna Rita Sidoti was less exciting than that of the men
Immediately in the lead Nicole Colombi who however leaves some signs of perplexity to the jury, but the gap between her and the chasers (Lidia Barcella and Federica Curiazzi) is such that even in the case of penalizing iactivity from the judges her victory would not have been questioned.
The monopoly of Bergamo athletes is completed on the podium.
Victory to Nicole Colombi (ITA) in 45:36 who dedicates the victory to Alessandro Talotti, the recently deceased high jumper of the Carabinieri.
Second place to a splendid Federica Curiazzi, who despite being the oldest of the trio, seems to have found a new youth and with it a new and beautiful style of walking. Her time is 46:10.
Third place to Lidia Barcella (Bracco Atletica) in 47:37.
As we did last week for the U20 Championships in Grosseto we like to report the good tests in particular from the technical profile of the home walker, Vittoria Giordani (7th in 50:01), but above all of the very young (2003) Alexandrina Mihai (6th in 49:17).
(Photos by Francesca Grana for Fidal - ITA)