The recent race on 35km in Grosseto gave the smile of a new face in the panorama of race walk in Italy.
We are talking about Stefano Chiesa who under the third place in 2:44:36 is currently in fifth place in the world list of 2017.
Sure are missing the results of the athletes of Russia and South America who usually compete over this distance, but if we compare the list of the end of 2016 with the time obtained in Grosseto by Stefano Chiesa would look at being in the top 15 positions.
Who is this young twenty-one?
Leaving aside his youthful activities (he tried the 60m, 60h, the long jump, the shot put and middle distance and then find his future in race walk) the turning point began in 2015.
We can define the watershed of his activity the 10km of Podebrady (CZE) of April 11, 2015 finished in 45:39 when arriving 11th only 20” from the third Italian (Gianluca Picchiottino).
At that time the personal best on the same distance on track was 46:05.17 obtained in Jesolo (ITA) on May 10, 2013.
In 2016 Stefano Chiesa establishes the personal records on other distances.
10.000m track walk: arrived fifth at Italian U23 Championships in Bressanone (June 10, 2016) in 44:55.69 (PB) in the race won by Francesco Fortunato (41:19.03)
10km road walk: arrived ninth in 44:45 (PB) at the Italian Championships in Rieti (June 26, 2016) also won by Francesco Fortunato (40:31)
20km road walk: he won the International race walk Meeting of Yverdon les Bains (SUI - September 4, 2016) in 1:27:21 (PB).
His 2016 saw him break down on 20km of almost six minutes the time he had in 2015 (1:33:18) with this sequence of events
| Date | Competition | Venue | Pos. | Results |
| | | | | |
| 28.05.2016 | La Coruña Gran Premio Cantones | ESP | 49. | 1:31:58 |
| 04.09.2016 | Yverdon-les-Bains Race Walking Meet | SUI | 1. | 1:27:21 |
| 02.10.2016 | Chiasso Race Walking Meet | SUI | 3. | 1:28:48 |
Only two dark moments in the brilliant season of 2016: the disqualification incurred to the Final Gold on Clubs Track Championships 10.000m) in Cinisello Balsamo (ITA) on September 24, 2016 and the DNF in 50km Dudince 50km (SVK) on March 19, 2016 but perhaps this last race had been faced even without conviction.
Now the good result of Grosseto.
(Photos by Marcia.it)
Stefano Chiesa (n. 12) leads the pack