5 gold (Sottile, Lingua, Arese, Verteramo, Curtabbi), 5 silver (Cerrato, Arese, Palmero, Riva, Crida), 4 bronze (Mellano, Bencosme de Leon, Lopez, Olivieri): this is the haul of the Piedmontese athletes over the weekend tricolor of Spice.
The medals shine, Piedmontese also for the company, gold for Sara Verteramo (Battaglio CUS Torino) and Eleonora Curtabbi (Atl. Giò 22 Rivera), respectively in the shot put and the 3000m steeplechase, and for the double in the decathlon of the standard-bearers of Atl. Fossano 75 Andrea Cerrato (silver) and Lorenzo Melano (bronze).
Sara Verteramo scores in the shot put with 15.98, obtained in the last throw, a measure that confirms her regularity in this season where she has also thrown a couple of times over 16 meters (16.32 and 16.05); in her series also in 15.76. In the 3000 steeplechase Eleonora Curtabbi is the only athlete to finish under 10 minutes: 9:57.59 for the Piedmontese who finished her studies in the USA, who also redeems the bad day of the European Championships in Rome (10:05.30 under the midday sun).
In the decathlon, the favorite Dario Dester was out due to an ankle injury on the first day, the protagonists being the Atletica Fossano ’75 pair formed by Andrea Cerrato (7404) and Lorenzo Mellano (6989), second only to the winner Lorenzo Modugno (7567). Cerrato improved by around 100 points and scored, in the individual tests, 47.45 in the 400 (936 points), 7.26 (+0.5) in the long run, 4.70 in the auction and 11.24 (-1.1) in the 100. Yes Mellano also improves, with an improvement of around 200 points compared to last week’s category tricolors in Lana (6798 points). For him too, best technical performance in the 400 (48.60), followed by 7.20 (+0.7) in the long run, 11.18 (-1.1) in the 100 and 15.31 (+0.7) in the 110hs.
But the most important technical result is undoubtedly Stefano Sottile’s (Fiamme Azzurre) 2.30 in the high jump, a measurement that almost certainly earns him a pass for the Olympic Games. Valeria Musso’s student, sixth at the European Championships in Rome, had not jumped at these levels for five years, i.e. since the Bressanone Championships in 2019 when he exceeded 2.33. The performance places him in the current eighth place on the world’s lists for the year. He is also impressed by the way he crosses the bar at 2.30, after a clear path (2.10-2.15-2.20-2.23 and 2.26): cold, light and precise.
In the men’s 5000 metres the duel between the two Pietros (Arese and Riva), the two Piedmontese medals at the European Championships in Rome. He is the European half marathon silver and team gold Pietro Riva (Fiamme Oro) to take the initiative around halfway through the race and dig the furrow with the rest of the group, but the continental 1500 bronze medalist Pietro Arese (Fiamme Gialle) gradually re-emerges and catches him again on the third to last lap. Then begins the face-off that flares up in the last two hundred meters when Arese (13: 35.97 PB) takes advantage of his fast skills and breaks away from Riva (13: 40.31).
In the 1500 meters Arese then found another Riva on his path, Federico, who, with an impressive change of pace at 200 meters, surprised the Piedmontese at the end of a tactical race, leaving him on the spot and denying him the double: he therefore had to settle for a second place in 3:41.06.
Marco Lingua (Atl. Biotekna) never ceases to amaze, setting a record. The Chivasso athlete in the hammer throw wins his eighteenth career title (between summer and winter), the first nineteen years ago, in 2005. Lingua wins and has fun; his experience leads him to draw the wild card in the last throw, a 69.66 with which, by just four centimetres, he knocks Giorgio Olivieri (Carabinieri) off the top, who was leading with 69.62. Silver in the women’s 5000 metres for Elisa Palmero (Army) who, with 15:35.68, achieves a new personal best, second only to the European champion Nadia Battocletti.
Piedmontese medals also in the long run, where Veronica Crida from Biella (Atl. Brescia 1950) returns to the Italian podium with 6.19 (-0.4).
Bronze in the 400 meters for the Italian relay runner Brayan Lopez (Fiamme Azzurre) who after two years returns under the 45 second barrier: 45.93 says the stopwatch, which gives him the second best time in his career (45.81 the personal best achieved in 2022 in La Chaux de fonds).
Double bronze in the 400hs, both male and female: Jose Bencosme De Leon (Fiamme Gialle), a Cuneo native of Dominican origin, finished in 51.10 while Linda Olivieri (Fiamme Oro) from Novara ran in 55.41, the third fastest time in her career after the 55.38 obtained in Chorzow and the 54.99 of the European Championships in Rome; the Piedmontese thus confirmed the good condition of this season which saw her improve on the old record of 55.54 dating back to 2021 three times.
Surprise in the women’s discus: Daisy Osakue (Fiamme Gialle) throws twice out of the sector and once into the cage, three invalids that cost her elimination and the missed fifth title in a row. The La Spezia tricolors are archived for her only with the 14.85 that is worth the fourth place in the shot put won by Verteramo. The race of Simone Bertelli (Fiamme Gialle), outgoing champion of the pole vault, also ends without measure: for him three invalids at the entry measurement of 5.20.
