TRAIL-O: GAIO STILL TOP 10. ITALY IS THERE
TURKU (FIN): The curtain falls on the 2024 TrailO European Championships with today’s test in the Temp-O specialty, won by the Finn Lauri Mäkinen (320”), ahead of his compatriot Petteri Hakala and the Czech Šimon Mareček, joint second with 325, 5”, followed by Ondřej Macek (CZE), Ralph Körner (GER) and Pavel Ptáček (CZE).
He is the best of the six Italians in the race Aaron Gaio, 10th, less than 30″ behind the long podium, then Marcello Lambertini (17th), Alessio Tenani (25th), Davide Martignago (27th), Michele Cera (28th) and Remo Madella (30th) : even without the high point of a top-6 which means awards on the long podium, it should be noted that all of our team managed to reach the final.
After the qualifying round in 2 heats in the morning, one of which was won by Lambertini who therefore had the last place on the grid in the final, in the early afternoon the 38 finalists tested themselves on the 9 timed stations foreseen, responding to a total of 45 questions in a very technical area, surrounding the sports facility that hosted the meeting. A particularly short ranking (first five places divided by just 12 seconds), in which no one managed to complete the perfect race and among the athletes with the fewest errors (2) we find the medalists Mäkinen and Mareček and our own Gaio and Tenani.
Thus Finland, with the last test, manages to win a gold in this continental event held at home, while Czechia, dominator of the last world championship in TempO, once again demonstrates its strength in this specialty, with 3 athletes in the top 6, but has to “settle” for a silver.
For Italy, this is the best continental event held so far and certainly one to remember, with a medal table consisting of one gold and one bronze, enriched by the fifth place in the Paralympic relay.
With the majority of the Paralympic group returning to Italy this evening and the rest of the team traveling tomorrow, we are already looking at the next commitments: the preparation for the 2025 World Cup passes as usual through the technical internship in Alpe Cimbra (in June) and the race weekend in Hungary and Slovakia, at the beginning of September, precisely where the next world championship will be held.
inserted by PI
