Alessandro Santangelo affirmed his status as one of Italy’s rising distance running prospects, clocking the fifth fastest 10km by a European U18 athlete this year in winning the national U18 title at the Italian Road Running Championships in Prato on Sunday (2).
The 17-year-old, who was 9th in the 5000m final at the Tampere 2025 European Athletics U20 Championships, clocked 30:28 to win gold, a full minute ahead of second placed Matteo Bagnus.
Santangelo ran 30:14 last month in Trieste to go second on the European U18 list this year behind only Sweden’s European Youth Festival 3000m gold medallist Sebastian Lörstad (29:07). The women’s U18 6km race was won by Alice Rosa Brusin (21:00).
Guerra and Gemetto win senior titles
The men’s senior race was won by 2023 European U23 10,000m silver medallist Francesco Guerra in 28:47 and the women’s senior race was won by European Running Championships ninth-placer Valentina Gemetto in 32:51.
European U18 3000m silver medallist Vittore Simone Borromin won the men’s U20 10km in 30:00 and Viviana Marinelli won the women’s U20 in 35:30. There were also Italian U23 titles up for grabs and these were seized by Stefano Benzoni (29:30) and Melissa Fracassini (34:34) in the men's and women's races.