Elisa Rigaudo of Italy wins the Pino Dordoni Memorial (© Lorenzo Sampaolo)
Italy's Elisa Rigaudo and Japan's Yuki Yamazaki took the honours at the seventh edition of the Pino Dordoni International 20km Race Walking event in Piacenza which also incorporated the Italian championships in this discipline.
This event honours the memory of Italian walking 50km Olympic champion Pino Dordoni who died in October 1998.
In a cold and windy afternoon in the Italian northern town of Piacenza Elisa Rigaudo, the IAAF Walking Challenge winner in 2004 and finalist in the Athens Olympic Games and in the Helsinki World Championships ended her positive season on a high note with a gun to tape win in 1:33:46 in her final race of the year.
In the first kilometres Rigaudo stayed in the lead with her compatriot Gisella Orsini (25th in Helsinki). But as early as the 6th kilometre Rigaudo pulled away and increased her lead building up a solid margin. At halfway the race for victory was over with Rigaudo clocking 46:45 at 10km. The surprising Greek Despina Zapounidou overhauled Orsini in the final kilometres to take the second spot in 1:36:50. Orsini finished third with 1:37:88.
"It's the end of the season, so I could not ask for a faster time today. I am happy because I had a problem on my foot and other physical problems in the recent weeks. Now I am looking forward to a three-week holiday in Peru before starting my preparation for 2006 in November," said Rigaudo.
Yuki Yamazaki, eighth in the 50km Race Walk at the World Championships in Helsinki, won the men's race in 1:23:57 beating Italian walking hope Giorgio Rubino from Ostia, who ended his successful season in 1:24:1. Rubino, who was born in 1986 and competes for the Fiamme Gialle, won the European junior bronze medal in Kaunas this summer and is considered as the future of Italian race walking.
It was Rubino's training partner Marco De Luca (a World Championships thirteenth placer in Helsinki in the 50km) who set the early pace followed by Yamazaki who stayed in second position. Rubino performed a great race staying on the wake of the leading duo.
After keeping the lead in the first half of the race De Luca was disqualified and from then on Rubino went to the lead followed by Yamazuki. The other Japanese Tochiro Morioka, third at the World Students Games in Izmir, was in third position.
Yamazuki prevailed over Rubino by launching his attack in the final lap after staying in second position for the race.
"I won the Japanese title and finished eighth in Helsinki. I am happy with today's win in a country with a proud walking tradition," said Yamazuki, who is coached by former international walker Fumio Imamura.
Yamazuki comes from Stoiama in the central part of Japan, lives in Chiba and studies sports management. After Helsinki he trained one month in Saluzzo in the Italian walking training centre.
Rubino ended his good season with a good second place. "This is the icing on the cake of a successful season. I am looking forward to 2006. I want to get experience at senior level in the two main events of 2006: the IAAF World Cup in La Coruna and the European Championships in Gothenburg if I will achieve the qualifying standard," said Rubino.
Olympic champion Ivano Brugnetti dropped out. "Ivano is taking a period of rest after Helsinki. Last week he finished second in the farewell race of Aigars Fadejevs in Riga without a specific preparation. We will start winter training seriously on 9 October," said Brugnetti's lifetime coach Antonio La Torre.
Twenty-year old Alex Schwazer, the sensational Italian who took the 50km race walk bronze medal at the World Championships improving his PB by nearly eight minutes with 3:41:54, was forced to miss the Pino Dordoni race due to a bout of flu.
"After Helsinki everything has changed in my life. I am requested for medal awards and celebrations. But when I start my training camp in Saluzzo I want to forget what happened in Helsinki. I want to focus on my training day after day and I don't want to think too much about next summer's European Championships in Gothenburg. I will train to improve my technique. This is my focus this winter with my coach Sandro Damilano who is the most important person in my life after my parents. He is the person who wanted me in his training group some years ago even when I hadn’t won anything yet," said Schwazer.
Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF
Selected results of the Pino Dordoni International:
Men (20 km):
1 Yuki Yamazaki (Japan) 1:23:57
2 Giorgio Rubino (Italy) 1:24:1
3 Tochiro Morioka (Japan) 1:24:29
4 Diego Cafagna (Italy) 1:24:42
5 Patrick Ennemoser (Italy) 1:25:3
Women (20 km):
1 Elisa Rigaudo (Italy) 1:33:46
2 Despina Zapounidou (Greece) 1:36:50
3 Gisella Orsini (Italy) 1:37:58
4 Lidia Mongelli (Italy) 1:38:29
5 Emanuela Perilli (Italy) 1:39:54