Parma hosts today the first day of the U16 Individual and Regional Teama Championships with the two walking events on the distance of 5,000m track walk for males and 3,000n track walk for females.
3.000m track walk U16 girls
Sixteen athletes present themselves at the start.
The accreditation times already say that it should be a review of higher value than the previous two when Giada Traina (2019) in 15:01.64 and Giulia Gabriele (2020) in 14:37.00 won. This year the two major contenders for victory already both present themselves with much lower accreditation times than those recorded in the competition in previous years.
The seasonal leader is Elisa Marini by virtue of her 14:18.70 followed by Silvia Parente who boasts a 14:35.17
Behind them for the podium are four more enclosed in a 15-second handkerchief: Lucrezia Neri, Serena Di Fabio who competes as an independent for the team standing as a teammate of Silvia Parente, Beatrice Bertolone and Valentina Pedditzi.
Some news about the race, which in any case was not lacking in ideas.
The passage to 1.000m (4:51.2) sees the two favorites in the lead followed by Beatrice Bertolone and Serena Di Fabio.
The second 1.000m are covered in 4:49.1 (for a total of 9:30.3) with the trio Marini, Bertolone and Parente always in the lead.
Bertolone, however, sees two red cards on the board of disqualifications and lets herself slip off, while in the last 1,000 Elisa Marini (4:53.03) has the better of Silvia Parente.
Victory to Elisa Marini (ITA) in 14:33.33
Second place to Silvia Parente (ITA) in 14:39.05
Third place to Beatrice Bertolone (ITA) in 14:43.45
5.000m track walk U16 boys
There are twelve athletes who present themselves at the start.
Also in this case, as for women, the accreditation times tell us about a state of well-being at the chronometric level in the U16s.
There are three who boast a personal best of less than 24:00.00 (Omar Moretti: 23:28.27; Marco Drusian: 23:53.76 and Giuseppe Disabato (23:58.38) and the first two tell us that performances, as for women, are lower than those of past editions.
As usual with young people, it will be the technique that decides in addition to the chronometer.
The training of young people is often at the beginning and some technical errors can lead to stop in the penalty area, which in both races are 30 seconds, but which, at least for the positions on the podium, could say goodbye to the dreams of glory of the young athletes.
Some news about the race.
The great emotions that had not reserved for the women's event all occurred in the boys event, but also in particular in the final parte of the race.
At the start they lead a group of five athletes made up of Omar Moretti, Marco Drusian, Matteo Anisi, Giuseppe Disabato and Tommaso Nocchi.
The quintet immediately gains about twenty meters and passes to 1.000m in 4:50.2
At 2.000m the leader is always Omar Moretti in 9: 5.0 (seconds 1.000m in 4:44.8) followed by Marco Drusian with the others spaced about 5m.
At 3.000m the situation does not change. Moretti and Drusian are leading in 14:20.2 (third 1.000m in 4:45.2), but the advantage over the others is now over thirty meters.
Omar Moretti shows some obvious technical problems.
At three laps to go Marco Drusian forces his pace while Omar Moretti gives up with a crash.
The passage to 4.000m sees Drusian in the lead in 18:55.9 (fourth 1.000m in 4:45.2) with Moretti now at 15 meters.
In the last 1,000m, everything happens.
As Marco Drusian flies to victory, two red cards have arrived on the board.
Worse is the opponent who receives the third red card, which frankly we share even if we consider it late, and is stopped for 30 seconds in the Penalty Zone.
However Marco Drusian (ITA) wins the U16 Championship in 23:24.57 new personal best which improves the 23:53.76 obtained on 18.9.2021 in Brescia in the new Sanpolino stadium named to Grace Gabric.
Second place to Omar Moretti who after serving the 30 second penalty ends in 24:04.39
The sprint for third place was glowing. Alessio Coppola comes back on Matteo Arisi and Giuseppe Disabato and beats them both on the finish line. The three arrive in order in 60/100 of a second.
Third place to Alessio Coppola (ITA) in 24:15.90 new personal best (previous of 25:19.35 obtained in Trieste on 19.9.2021). From more than a few coaches present there we have been some appreciations about this athlete and is our duty to publish. Among other things, lowering his personal best by over 1 minute for someone who hasn't been walking for long is not an everyday thing. Also in this case we hope that the results of next season will confirm that of today's race.
Fourth place to Matteo Arisi (ITA) in 24:16.43 new personal best (previous of 24:44.82 obtained in Parma on 18.9.2021)
Fifth place to Giuseppe Disabato (ITA) in 24:16.50
(photos by Francesca Grana per Fidal)