Rome, on the course of the World Race Walk Team Championships, 2016 hosted the Italian Championships of 20km road walk.
Touching moment before the start to remember the recent death of Cristiana Pellino, past walker of the Italian national team and resident in Rome. Her memory, in the presence of her husband Filippo Collatina and her two children reminds us how much the world of race walk is used to gather around family members in cases like these: in Rome 2016 was also remembered Anna Rita Sidoti who with Cristana Pellino was part of the team who won the European Cup in the Eisenuttenstadt (GER) on June 17, 2000.
20km men
Immediately in the lead after the start Federico Tontodonati (ITA) that earns about ten meters on Massimo Stano (ITA) and Matteo Giupponi (ITA).
The passage to Tontodonati's 5km is 20:15. The others follow but unfortunately Matteo Giupponi is already charged by two red card.
Between 5km and 10km we see a stellar number by Massimo Stano (ITA), which recovers the gap that divided him from Tontodonati and passes in the lead in 40:41. An unofficial timekeeping speaks of a time less than 20.00 for this second part of the race.
At 15km Stano is the undisputed leader of the race and his passage is 1:00:52 (last 5km in 20:11). His walk is very beautiful and fluid that pleases the purists of race walk.
Vctory to Massimo Stano (ITA) in 1:21:02 that finally canceled the personal best that had left a lot of perplexities (1:22:16 obtained in Cassino, ITA on May 29, 2015)
Second place to Federico Tontodonati (ITA) in 1:21:52 (nuovo personal best - previous of1:21:56 obtained in Cassino, ITA on March 26, 2016)
Third place to Stefano Chiesa (ITA) in 1:22:32
Follow Gianluca Picchiottino (ITA - 1:22:48 new personal best - previous of 1:23:46 obtained in Cassino, ITA on March 26, 2017) and Michele Antonelli (ITA - 1:23:19 new personal best - previous of 1:23:55 obtained in Cassino, ITA on March 26, 2016)
20km women
Departure fast enough for Valetina Trapletti (ITA) and Eleonora Dominici (ITA) that pass together with the 5km in 22:50. For Trapletti, who returned on Tuesday from Monterrey (MEX), perhaps we should have expected a slower start; certainly for Eleonora Dominici this pace is fast, so much so that it breaks down and receives a red card from the jury (he will be after DQed together with Marco Belli, Ettore Grillo and Pietro Zabbeni).
Just before 10km Dominici (46:06, but still the best personal on the 10km, having obtained in Taicang 2014 the performance of 47:37) is detached from Trapletti that passes in the lead in 45:48.
Third at 10km is Nicole Colombi, however, distanced more than 2 minutes from Dominici.
From this moment on the race has no more history.
Victory to Valentina Trapletti (ITA) in 1:32:15
Second place to Eleonora Dominici (ITA) in 1:33:33 (she has a personal best of 1:33:32 obtained in Bydgoszcz, POL on July 16, 2017)
Third place to Nicole Colombi (ITA) in 1:37:26 far from her personal best.
After the race Valentina Trapletti stated that she did not believe in a similar result, as she still has to dispose of some of the fatigue accumulated in the USA stage and in the Monterrey race, but above all to recover the jet leg as she sleeps on average three/four hours per night. But it was important to win the Italian title and the goal was obtained.
In a week, two 20km walks: one in 1:36:18 (the one in Monterrey on Feb. 24, 2018) and the other in 1:32:15 (today's).
20km U20 uomini
Victory to Riccardo Orsoni (ITA) in 1:29:38 (new personal best - previous of 1:30:23 obtained in Grosseto, ITA on Jan. 28, 2018)
Second place to Nicolas Fanelli (ITA) in 1:30:55 who broke by 1" the personal best (previous of 1:30:23 obtained in Grosseto, ITA on Jan. 28, 2018)
Terzo posto per Fabio Barattini (ITA) in 1:35:57
20km U20 donne
Victory to Andrada Lavinia Lacatus (ITA) in 1:41:12
Second place to Alessia Mastronicola (ITA) in 1:48:16
Third place to Alessandra Lentini (ITA) in 1:51:41
It is worth stopping for a moment on this young winner (first year U20 and too often sometimes in the eye of the storm of local juries) that today, with an international jury, at her inaugural 20km establishes the fourth U20 world performance of the 2018 season behind an athlete of the Russia and two athletes from Japan.
In our opinion she is an athlete on which it is worth making an investment for the future.