It is considered the second most important athletics event in Italy after the Golden Gala in Rome. And it has been held annually since 13 September 1987 continuously. Until today: the 37th edition of the “City of Padua” Meeting, scheduled between the end of August and the beginning of September, will not take place. Sacrificed to the work underway in Piazzale Azzurri d’Italia all’Arcella, which makes the Damiano Colbachini stadium impracticable, which has become the “temple” of athletics in the city.
The official announcement will arrive in the next few hours, but the choice has already been made by Assindustria Sport, the organizer of the event, in agreement with the Municipality. Perhaps at the end of August a part of the square could already be reopened, but what tipped the scales towards no was the fact that the 2024 edition would have had a lower tone anyway: «The choice was to focus on a large-scale event in 2025, which is the year in which the 25th anniversary of the Padua Marathon also falls», explains the sports councilor Diego Bonavina. «It will also be an opportunity to implement a project of revamping of the track, which is a bit worn”, adds the president of Assindustria Sport Roberto Gasparetto, then postponing the details to the official communication.
TOP FLOOR EVENT
So it is better to concentrate efforts on organizing two big events next year, rather than a smaller one in less than two months. Also because the Padua Meeting must live up to its reputation: the IAAF rankings have designated it the second event in Italy after the Golden Galan, one of the six events in the Belpaese among the top 100 in the world. The evaluation takes into account the first 5 technical results of the 12 best races, adding them together, and a series of other parameters related to the athletes present: the Meeting was ranked 42nd event in the world. The last edition involved athletes from 31 nations, some of them even multiple medalists, and set two event records: the European indoor silver medalist Zane Weir reached 22.44 meters in the shot put and then the Italian Nadia Battocletti who broke the record in the 1,500 meters.
But certainly the record that has entered history the most is the one achieved in 1992: right at Colbachini in fact the Ukrainian Serhij Bubka achieved his third to last world record in the pole vault reaching a height of 6.12 meters. Inside the Arcella stadium there is a plaque that commemorates that historic evening at the end of August.
WORKS IN PIAZZALE AZZURRI
However, since February, right in front of the Colbachini stadium, in Piazzale Azzurri d’Italia, the renovation works have begun which will lead to a transformation green of space, with a large flowerbed that will contain the five Olympic rings, and the moving of the parking areas onto draining pavement. An intervention costing 400 thousand euros. «From 1,500 square meters of green surface we will go to 1,900. We are planting new trees: from the current 21 we will go to 31. The parking spaces will go from 83 to 84, with the addition of a fifth stall for disabled people. There will also be spaces for buses, scooters and bike racks”, explained the deputy mayor Andrea Micalizzi a few months ago when presenting the works. To date, the intervention is already well advanced, so much so that we can see the parking spaces on draining soil and the size of the future large flowerbed. It is probable that part of the square will already be open by the end of August. Evidently, however, not enough to allow the Meeting to take place. —
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