The first day of the Indoor Absolute Italian Championships is also dedicated to walking events.
Already during the presentation of these Championships we have had the opportunity to underline that at least for 45% these Championships are nothing but an almost photocopy of those U23 and U20 two weeks ago those in the same facility of the palaindoor of Ancona.
3.000m indoor women
Let's start with the women's competition, the one that presents the greatest number of athletes at the start and the one in which there are the most interesting names, among which that of Antonella Palmisano (ITA) that would be as the sure winner of the title and gold medal.
Her personal best (12:05.28), even if aged three years, is unapproachable for others.
The bet is to see if the London 2017 bronze medal will succeed (or want to give it a try) to climb some position on the all-time Italian list on 3.000m indoor walk indicated below:
| Performance | Athlete | DoB | Venue | Date |
| | | | | |
| 11:50.08 | GIORGI Eleonora | 140989 | Ancona | 22-2-14 |
| 11:53.23 | SALVADOR Ileana | 160162 | Genova | 29-2-92 |
| 11:54.32 | SIDOTI Annarita | 250769 | Parigi | 12-3-94 |
| 11:57.00 | RIGAUDO Elisa | 170680 | Genova | 21-2-04 |
| 12:00.13 | ALFRIDI Erica | 220268 | Genova | 22-2-97 |
| 12:05.68 | PALMISANO Antonella | 060891 | Padova | 21-2-15 |
| 12:13.00 | PERRONE Elisabetta | 090768 | Genova | 1-3-03 |
| 12:14.74 | PAGANI Piercarola | 101163 | Genova | 29-2-92 |
| 12:16.92 | PELLINO Cristiana | 210970 | Genova | 12-2-00 |
| 12:17.28 | COMPAGNONI Santa | 131163 | Genova | 7-2-98 |
They start in eight.
Immediately in the lead Antonella Palmisano followed about twenty meters from Eleonora Dominici and another 20 meters from Fatima Lotfi and Nicole Colombi.
The split time to 1.000m (3: 55.7) sees in the head Antonella Palmisano esuta at a distance from Eleonora Dominici. For the first two steps of the podium the game seems to be closed.
It remains to be seen the race for the bronze that sees Nicole Colombi and Fatima Lotfi fight.
At 2,000m Antonella Palmisano passes in 7:54.4 (second 1.000m in 3:48.7).
Antonella Palmisano wins without any difficulty in 11:55.30 (new personal best), fourth all-time performance on the 3,000m indoor behind Annarita Sidoti and in front of Elisa Rigaudo.
| Performance | Athlete | DoB | Venue | Date |
| | | | | |
| 11:50.08 | GIORGI Eleonora | 140989 | Ancona | 22-2-14 |
| 11:53.23 | SALVADOR Ileana | 160162 | Genova | 29-2-92 |
| 11:54.32 | SIDOTI Annarita | 250769 | Parigi | 12-3-94 |
| 11:55.30 | PALMISANO Antonella | 060891 | Ancona | 17-2-18 |
This performance is also the world best of the season 2018 on 3.000m indoor walk.
Second place to Eleonora Dominici in 12:37.11. For her, today the new personal best that she had not managed a fortnight ago at the U23 Championships, with the satisfaction of the first performance under 13:00.00 and a reduction of the result of 25"27/100.
Third place for Nicole Colombi in 13:22.26 which precedes Fatima Lotfi (13:32.07) with the new personal best.
They arrive in seven and 1 DQ
Videoclip of the race of Antonella Palmisano: click here
5.000m indoor men
The men's race is from the point of view of substance a moment not exactly striking for the indoor men's walk.
It is very sad to see an Italian Championship with four athletes at the start.
All that remains is to enjoy the beautiful solitary walk of Francesco Fortunato followed a certain distance from Leonardo dei Tos and then from the other two contenders: Giacomo Brandi and Gregorio Angelini.
Split times are the following:
- 1.000m: 3:51.9
- 2.000m: 7:43.9
- 3.000m: 11:34.9
- 4.000m: 15:18.6
Wins with the new personal best (which at least repays the audience) of 18:55.26 which represents the sixth all-time Italian performance after that of Michele Didoni and in front of Massimo Fizialetti.
This time is now the second world performance of the season on the 5,000m indoor after the result of 18:52.94 obtained by Ruslan Dmytrenko (UKR) in Kiev on January 9, 2018.
Second place to Leonardo dei Tos in 19:50.57
Third place to Giacomo Brandi in 20:28.50
| Performance | Athlete | DoB | Venue | Date |
| | | | | |
| 18:08.86 | BRUGNETTI Ivano | 010976 | Ancona | 17-2-07 |
| 18:19.97 | DE BENEDICTIS Giovanni | 080168 | Genova | 28-2-92 |
| 18:27.15 | GANDELLINI Alessandro | 300473 | Genova | 12-2-00 |
| 18:46.49 | SCHWAZER Alex | 261284 | Ancona | 27-2-10 |
| 18:47.94 | DIDONI Michele | 070374 | Genova | 12-2-00 |
| 18:55.26 | FORTUNATO Franceco | 131294 | Ancona | 17-2-18 |
| 18:57.52 | FIZIALETTI Massimo | 070265 | Genova | 20-2-99 |
| 18:59.20 | MATTIOLI Carlo | 231054 | Milano | 19-2-80 |
| 19:02.52 | FIORINI Pietro | 110367 | Pesaro | 30-1-91 |
| 19:04.50 | PERRICELLI Giovanni | 250867 | Torino | 24-2-96 |
Some technical considerations
In addition to that of Antonella Palmisano we enjoyed the walk of Eleonora Dominici and Fatima Lotfi (the new name of the group). A little less that of Nicole Colombi, who seems to have lost the good gestures of years ago: we consider, in this case, more than correct the sanctions of the jury. We were surprised by the two red cards against Martina Ansaldi, an athlete who normally does not incur in jury reporting.
At the men's level, considering the lot of the starters, there is very little to say: the walk of Francesco Fortunato and Leonardo dei Tos do not generally recall the attention of the juries and so today too. Giacomo Brandi instead alternates the days very good with other less good, generally due to loss of contact: today it was the second chance.
Of the nine red cards in total issued by the jury 5 were for bent knee and 4 for loss of contact with the ground.
(All photos and photo album by Giancarlo Colombo for Fidal)
Full results in the section Results or directly download from this link: click here
Photo album (by Giancarlo Colombo for Fidal): click here