Once again the Palaindoor of Ancona hosts the annual edition of the Absolute Italian Indoor Championships.
The usual program includes 3,000m indoor women at 4:50pm (10 athletes are entered) and 5,000m indoor men (with 8 entered athletes) at 5:50 pm.
Both for the participation numbers and for the names of the athletes competing, it would seem to understand that the program will offer two subdued races compared to those of previous years.
Next week the World Team Race Walking Championships will take place in Muscat in Oman and many of the athletes selected to represent Italy in this championship that in the past has given the "Azzurri" colors so much satisfaction have made the choice not to participate in the indoor competition.
3.000m indoor walk women
If we exclude the three athletes of the Senior category (Beatrice Foresti, Lidia Barcella and Annalisa Russo) the race looks like a mixed re-edition of the U20 and U23 Indoor Championships (held on February 5) and the U18 Indoor Championships (held on February 19).
There are both the U23 winner, Simona Bertini (13:16.03) and the U20 winner, Alexandrina Mihai (13:49.40) who will face the three athletes of the superior category.
And we come to the race.
Immediately after the gun, Simona Bertini rushes off like a fury. We do not know yet, but we are witnessing a "wonderful one women show" for the wonderful walk shown by the young athlete and for the result she will get.
Her split times are as follows:
- 1000m in 4:19.1
- 2.000m in 8:39.5 (4:20.4)
- last 1.000m in 4:16.33
She therefore wins in 12:55.83 which represents the new personal best of the athlete (previous of 13:16.03 always obtained here in Ancona precisely on the occasion of the U23 Championships).
Alexandrina Mihai, who had done so well with the victory in the U20s and Lidia Barcella, fight for second place. However, the jury stops in the penalty area for 30" Mihai.
Second place to Lidia Barcella in 13:36.78 also for her new personal best (previous of 13: 40.13 always obtained here in Ancona on 22.2.2020)
Third place to Anna Ferrari in 13:44.79 also for her new personal best (previous of 13:52.75 always obtained here in Ancona precisely on the occasion of the U23 Championships).
Another disqualification, as in Pescara for Annalisa Russo, while the same fate falls to Martina Sciannamea who at the U18 had obtained silver behind Giulia Gabriele, but immune from red cards; the cause of a sudden 100m final !
5.000m indoor walk men
Also in this race it seems to witness a re-edition of the U23 Championships with the silver and the bronze on February 5th (Gabriele Gamba: 21:49.83 and Alessandro Tononi: 23:39.02 who will fight with the four senior musketeers with slightly more pompous names: Teodorico Caporaso (20:00.24), Leonardo Dei Tos (19:16.34), Ettore Grillo (20:39.50) and Niccolò Coppini (21:24.27).
Teodorico Caporaso, Leonardo Dei Tos and Ettore Grillo immediately take the lead of the race.
- At 1,000m, Caporaso and Dei Tos (3:57.7) lead the way, leading Grillo by a few meters.
- At 2,000m the passage takes place in 7:51.7 (seconds 1,000m in 3:54.0) always with the couple Caporaso and Dei Tos setting the pace. Grillo is about ten meters away.
Immediately after the passage at 2,000m Teodorico Caporaso forces his pace and detaches Leonardo Dei Tos by a few meters. It seems to be the turning point of the race, but it will not be, there will be many other surprises.
- At 3.000m the leadership is that of Caporaso in 11:47.6 (third 1.000m in 3:55.0)
But just before 4.000m the turnup for the books. Teodorico Caporaso is stopped by the jury in the penalty area for 30”. He comes out and regardless of the fact that he may suffer a disqualification goes chasing Dei Tos who is the leader with his passage to 4.000m in 15:58.1.
He catches up with him three laps from the end and overtakes him.
Then Teodorico Caporaso passes first with an unofficial time of 19:56.15
At the moment of the results the second twist: the victory is assigned to Leonardo Dei Tos in 20:09.56 in front of Caporaso in 20:26:15. It is clear that this cannot be because either Caporaso won or he must be disqualified.
After about ten minutes the mystery is revealed: an error in the calculation of the penalty area calculated twice.
But the mistakes are not over: the third to the finish line is Ettore Grillo (21:05.52) but due to a late red card he was not stopped in the penalty area. At his time of arrival, 30” had to be added, which was not the case. The checks on Dei Tos and Caporaso also reveal this error which is immediately remedied.
At this point, dear readers, the turnup for the books are truly over.
The final order of arrival is as follows:
Victory and title of Italian Champion to Teodorico Caporaso in 19:56.15
Second place to Leonardo Dei Tos in 20:09.56
Third place to Gabriele Gamba in 21:19.96
Fourth place to Ettore Grillo in 21:35.52
(Photos by Fidal Grana/Fidal)