Italian duo Francesco Fortunato and Valentina Trapletti were surprise winners as they triumphed in the marathon mixed relay at the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships in Antalya, Turkiye on Sunday (21).
It was a brilliant championships for European nations, with seven team medals and four individual medals across the five races in the Mediterranean city which will also host the 2024 SPAR European Cross Country Championships on 8 December.
Unheralded Italians take centre stage
The less heralded duo were ostensibly Italy’s second team for the race, behind the crack team of Olympic gold medallists Massimo Stano and Antonella Palmisano.
But Stano struggled with a foot injury on the first leg before handing on to Palmisano. And it was no surprise when Stano did not reappear in the changeover zone for the third leg.
Instead, the day belonged to Fortunato, last year’s European Race Walking Team Championships 20km gold medallist and Trapletti, fifth over 20km at the Munich 2022 European Athletics Championships.
Both Fortunato and Trapletti are expected to be part of the Azzurri squad aiming to impress in front of their own family and friemds at the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships between 7-12 June.
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Paris beckons as Spain faces selection dilemmas
It was twice as nice for the Italians with the marathon race walk mixed relay having an enticing extra dimension, doubling as an Olympic qualifier ahead of when the discipline makes it debut in Paris this summer.
It was a dramatic race in every sense, with Brazil’s duo of Caio Bonfim and Viviane Lyra and Japan’s Koki Ikeda and Kumiko Okada holding first and second with little more than two kilometres to go.
But Lyra was pulled into the penalty zone for a violation ahead of the final 2km lap, seemingly handing gold to Japan.
However, Trapletti was not done and hauled in Okada during the final kilometre before eventually taking gold by 19 seconds in 2:56.45. Spain took bronze through world 20km and 35km gold medallist Alvaro Martin and three-times European Race Walking Cup medallist Laura Garcia-Caro in 2:57:37.
Spain’s other double world gold medallist from last summer's World Athletics Championships, Maria Perez, teamed up with Miguel Angel Lopez and the duo had to settle for 10th place after Perez also fell foul of the judges. However, their result was still comfortably within the top 22 teams who automatically qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
But only a maximum of two teams from the same country to get places for Paris and Spain's third team of Alberto Amezcua and Cristina Montesinos placing seventh in 3:00.37, the Spanish selectors face some tough choices.
Ukraine (two teams), France, Germany, Turkiye and Slovakia also finished within the top 22 to secure places for Paris and the 23rd placed Polish team could also make the Olympics given that Spain’s can only send two teams.
Karlstrom holds off McGrath for 20km gold
World and European 20km silver medallist Perseus Karlstrom enjoyed another golden moment as took the individual title in the senior men’s 20km race in 1:18.49. Meanwhile rising star Paul McGrath enjoyed his best result so far on the senior stage.
Already a European U23 and U20 champion, McGrath's preparation for a senior medal at Roma 2024 was given a significant confidence boost as he took silver in 1:19.14. He was followed home by teammate and Munich 2022 bronze medallist Diego García in 1:19.51.
It also meant Spain took the team title with support from Alvaro Lopez in eighth place while Italy, led by seventh placed Riccardo Orsoni, won bronze.
Karlstrom and McGrath led a 20-strong pack through the halfway point, passing 10km in 40:17, but by 15km, the duo had broken clear and reduced the battle for gold to a simple head-to-head.
With 3km remaining, the greater experience of Karlstrom - a four-time World Athletics Championships medallist – began to tell. He pulled clear and McGrath dug in for silver.
Garcia came through with a speedy 3:50 the final kilometre with to overhaul Japan’s Yuta Koga to make it two Spaniards on the podium.
For Karlstom, it was his second title at these championships, having triumphed over 35km two years ago in Muscat, Oman.
"Conditions were not as hot as I wanted, to take advantage of having spent two weeks here in Antalya, as last week we had 30 degrees,” he told www.worldathletics.org. "It was a very comfortable win today. I felt so strong.
“I really smashed many of the top 10 list athletes from last year’s World Championships in Budapest and the closest was 25 seconds behind; that’s a big confidence booster. I did a couple of specific 20km training sessions before this race after my win in Podebrady.
“It was also great to see Mondo (Duplantis) jump a new world record yesterday. Sweden has a lot to show, competing with the best in the world.”
Senior bronze for Spain
In the senior women’s race, Spanish athletes packed in well to earn team bronze behind gold and silver medallists China and Peru. They were led by Lidia Sanchez-Puebla, who was eighth in a personal best of 1:30:24, followed by Antia Chamosa who also set a personal best with 1:30:32 and Paula Juarez secured the podium spot for Spain, placing 14th in 1:31:56.
The trio are expected to be strong contenders at both Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships and the Paris Olympic Games this summer.
Spain took the team title in the women’s U20 10km race for the first time ever. The winning trio of Aldara Meilan, 2023 European U20 10,000m champion Sofia Santacreu and Griselda Serret were second, third and sixth respectively.
Meilan and Santacreu were in a three-way battle for the individual gold with China’s Yang Xizhen but Yang pulled clear with about 700m to go to win in 45:06 while Meilan (45:12) held off Santacreu (45:17) for silver.
There was heartbreak for Serbia’s Mina Stankovic as she desperately tried to close in on Santacreu for bronze, but she made one infringement too many and was disqualified with just 150 metres to race.
It meant Italy’s Giulia Gabriele (45:26) came fourth and led Italy to team bronze with teammates Serena Di Fabio (seventh) and Michelle Canto (ninth).
National record for hosts
In the men’s U20 10km race, Italy’s European U20 bronze medallist Giuseppe Disabato was the leading European in fifth place with a personal best of 40:32 and there was a home success story as Turkiye’s Seyhmus Capat set a new U20 national record of 40:42 in seventh.
Spain finished second behind China in the overall medal table with two gold, two silver and four bronze.
Chris Broadbent for European Athletics