The Indoor Championships reserved for the U20 and U23 are back today, Saturday 4 February 2023 and will take place at the Palaindoor in Ancona.
The timetable includes the following events:
- 1.55 pm: 3.000m U20 women with 14 entered athletes
- 2.25 pm: 5.000m U23 men with 12 entered athletes
- 4.05 pm: 3.000m U23 women with 5 entered athletes
- 4.35 pm: 5.000m U20 men with 12 entered athletes
Indoor race walking in Italy is a historic specialty that has always resisted those cancellation wishes to the programs of the competitions.
Also from a technical point of view it often arouses in the coaches a sort of love-hate for those tight and banked curves and for those bouncy straights that facilitate the flight phase.
However, the fact remains that if they didn't exist, the winter season would have a single outlet in favor of athletes' competitions: that of the Italian 35km championship with its accompanying events and which has recently taken place in Milazzo in Sicily.
Preview
3.000m U20 women
The favorites of the eve are the same three athletes who in the past weekend obtained the first three places in the 15km of Milazzo, all enclosed in a handkerchief: Sofia Fiorini (1:14:25), Giulia Gabriele (1:14:46) and Giada Traina (1:15:53). The hope for those who understand race walk is to see a few less red cards next to their names, given that they have collected seven in Milazzo: a bit too many for the top athletes of the Italian U20.
5.000m U23 men
Also in this event there are two athletes of greatest interest:
- Andrea Cosi, author of a beautiful race in Milazzo that led him to the new personal best (1:21:39) behind two Chinese, one of whom, Wang Kaihua, boasts the second world performance of all time. It has been since the second part of the 2022 season that the athlete followed by Marco Ugolini continues to pleasantly amaze us. His personal best on 5.000m indoor is 19:48.28
- Nicola Lomuscio, who has the best accreditation time (19:48.0) but who DNF in Milazzo after a stop in the penalty area for three red cards
3.000m U23 women
We think we have no doubts about the victory of Alexandrina Mihai who recently in Padua brought her personal best over the distance to 13:20.06 unfortunately at the moment still not recognized by World Athletics as the race had not been included in the Calendar. For World Athletics, the official personal best remains the time of 13:49.40.
The fight for the other two medals will be between Anita Laiolo, Vittoria Di Dato and Sara Buglisi
5.000m U20 men
Also in this match we have no doubts about the favourite: it is Diego Giampaolo, trained this season by Patrizio Parcesepe together with Emiliano Brigante (not present due to muscle inflammation), and who with his colleague from Monfalcone one year older than him, represents one of the future hopes at the male youth level.
For the other two medals we will probably see, as in Milazzo, a battle between Andrea Di Carlo and Ivan Ragazzino.
The events
3.000m U20 women
The first 1,000m are five: Giada Traina, Sofia Fiorini, Giulia Gabriele, Michelle Cantò and Verdiala Casciotti.
Shortly after 1.000m Giada Trina forces the pace and the group of leaders remains for a few laps made up of the three favorites.
Two more laps and only Giada Traina and Giulia Gabriele remain to fight for the title.
At the bell Giulia Gabriele tries to surprise her opponent but Giada Traina rediscovers and extends her pace to her life.
Leders splits:
- 1.000m: 4:40.9
- 2.000m: 9:04.5 (4:23.6)
- last 1.000m in 4:40.07
Victory to Giada Traina in 13:20.97 new personal best (previous of 14:11.64 obtained here in Ancona on 13.2.2021)
Second place to Giulia Gabriele in 13:22.14 new personal best (previous of 14:19.59 obtained here in Ancona in 19.2.22)
Third place to Sofia Fiorini in 13:57.40 new personal best (previous of 14:22.18 obtained always in Ancona on 5.2.2022)
Some controversy about judging cheered up after the race.
5.000m U23 men
The U23 test said very little, indeed nothing.
We attended a monologue by Andrea Cosi and were delighted to see a beautiful walk, the one that should distinguish the elite walkers of the Italian school. Congratulations to his coach Marco Ugolini, to whom we say "compliments", even if a member of the jury, probably inexperienced or too confident, allowed himself the luxury of sending the head judge a red card for a bent knee that many outside the oval do not have view.
Congratulations to him too for the new personal best of 19:44.93.
The rest is to be forgotten, both for performance and for the technique on display.
Andrea Cosi's splits:
- 1,000m: 3:53.8
- 2,000m: 7:44.6 (3:51.8)
- 3.000m: 11:45.8 (4:01.2)
- 4,000m: 15:45.0 (3:59.9)
- last 1,000m in 3:39.93
The silver is awarded to Nicola Lomuscio after a race that has very little to do with walking, and who was penalized by the jury with a 30-second stop in the penalty area for a very approximate and practically non-existent extended knee. In any case, given the values of the rest of the athletes in the race, he finishes in second place. His time is 20:52.95
Third place to Giulio Scoli in 21:05.06
3.000m U23 women
Only four athletes at the start: Sara Buglisi, Vittoria Di Dato, Anita Laiolo and Alexandrina Mihai.
Alexandrina Mihai immediately takes the lead and she will no longer be reached.
Behind her in form the couple made up of Vittoria Di Dato and Sara Buglisi and Anita Laiolo even more detached.
The leaders split times are:
- 1.000m: 4:19.4
- 2.000m: 8:38.5 (4:19:1)
- last 1.000m in 4:19.75
Victory to Alexandrina Mihai in 12:58.25 new personal best (previous of 13:49.40 obtained here in Ancona on 5.2.2022)
Second place to Vittoria Di Dato in 13:47.56 (previous of 14:07.25 obtained here in Ancona on 5.2.2022)
Third place to Sara Buglisi in 14:17:41
Fourth place to Anita Laiolo in 15:36.17
5.000m U25 women
Amazing solo by Diego Giampaolo in the lead right from the start.
The race seems to be a photocopy of that of the U23s, so much is the gap that the athlete coached by Patrizio Parcesepe inflicts on his opponents.
Even his technical walk appears to be one of the best moments, and definitely in the boys these U20 and U23 indoor championships have given us very well prepared technical leaders.
He too, like Andrea Cosi after all, presents a walk with high frequencies as is being observed worldwide and shown in particular by Japanese and Chinese athletes.
These are his split times:
- 1.000m: 4:02:1
- 2.000m: 8:05.1 (4:03.0)
- 3.000m: 11:59.4 (3:54.3)
- 4.000m: 15:58.5 (3:59.1)
- last 1.000m in 3:35.53
Moreover thank to the coach of Giampaolo we publish the pace frequency each 1.000m which we presume will be very interesting for all.
- 1.000m: 81,5 steps each 100m, it means a frequency of 3,3/sec
- 2.000m: 79,5 steps each 100m, it means a frequency of 3,3/sec
- 3.000m: 80 steps each 100m, it means a frequency of 3,2/sec
- 4.000m: 79 steps each 100m, it means a frequency of 3,3/sec
- last 1.000m: 79 steps each 100m, it means a frequency of 3,3/sec
The only thing we can observe is that in the final part of the race when he forced his pace a lot, he didn't get it with an increase in frequency, but with an increase in the length of the stride itself.
The most advanced international athletes arrive at frequencies of 3.6-3.8 steps/sec.
Victory to Diego Giampaolo in 19:52.03 new personal best (demolished the previuos of 21:44.17, obtained in Ancona on 15.1.2020 by 1:42.04
Second place to Andrea Di Carlo in 22:26.11
Third place to Ivan Ragozzino in 22:41.36
Diego Giampaolo wins the U20 title and thus signs a historic result for Italy in addition to the new personal best: he is the fourth Italian athlete ever to obtain a U20 performance of less than 20:00.00
(Photos by Fabio Girotti, ITA for Fidal)
Official results
More photos in the photo album of Fabio Girotti
