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In the second day of the Italian National Championships currently underway in Florence the women’s 10km race is scheduled at 5:10 pm. As has been the case for about ten years, this women’s event of the Italian Individual Championship is dedicated to the memory of Annarita Sidoti.
The races take place on a 1,000m circuit on Viale Ferruccio Valcareggi outside the Ridolfi Sports Field in Florence.
The start, however, is on the track, as is the finish.
10km Women
Also in the women’s race is missing from the leading athletes: Antonella Palmisano who chose another technical route and Sofia Fiorini who is recovering from an annoying gastroenteritis. Of the top athletes, only Alexandrina Mihai, Giulia Gabriele and Giada Traina are at the start.
Giulia Gabriele took the lead right from the start, followed by Alexandrina Mihai, who still had a few meters ahead of the others.
The certainty of these Italian Women’s Championships is this: whoever wins this year’s Championships will be a new name added to the roll of honor, as no athlete who has won the title in previous years is at the start today.
After six minutes of racing, Giulia Gabriele and Alexandrina Mihai already have a lead of almost a hundred meters over their closest chasers. They are 17 seconds behind a group composed of Giada Traina, Giulia Miconi, and Verdiana Casciotti, who in turn have a further advantage of about 10 seconds over Lidia Barcella and Giulia Lucentini.
At 3km, the leaders have a 22-second lead over Traina, who in turn has a 20-meter lead over Miconi and about 30 meters over Cosciotti. The others follow.
The next lap changes very little, with Gabriele and Mihai’s lead increasing over Traina, who has overtaken Casciotti.
The halfway point tells us that the battle for the podium will be between Mihai and Gabriele. Indeed, the Fiamme Oro athlete is a few meters ahead of the Fiamme Gialle athlete.
After 25 minutes of racing, Alexandrina Mihai has a 19-second lead over Giulia Gabriele, who, in 
turn, is 51 seconds behind the leader, but maintains an approximately 8-second advantage over Giulia Miconi.
The gold and silver medals, barring any unforeseen interventions by the jury, appear to have already been assigned, while the fight for the bronze medal is still open.
After 30 minutes of racing, the situation is as follows: Mihai leads with a 39-second advantage over Gabriele, 1:10 over Traina, and 1:24 over Miconi.
Three-quarters of the way through, Mihai’s advantage over Gabriele is 51 seconds, 1:31 over Traina, 1:50 over Miconi, and 2:31 over Lidia Barcella. Nothing changes until the finish except that Lucentini has overtaken Barcella.
Official results
1st place and Italian Champion: Alexandrina Mihai in 44:29 (personal best)
2nd place and Silver medal: Giulia Gabriele in 46:05
3rd place and Bronze medal: Giada Traina in 46:36 (personal best)
4th place to Giulia Miconi in 47:46 (personal best)
5th place to Giulia Lucentini in 47:53 (personal best)
6th place to Lidia Barcella in 48:12 (personal best)
Photo album by Francesca Grana/Fidal
