European 20km race walk bronze medallist Francesco Fortunato shattered the long-standing world indoor 5000m race walk record on the first day of the Italian Indoor Championships in Ancona on Saturday (22).
The 30-year-old stopped the clock at 17:55.65 to become the first athlete in history to break the 18 minute-barrier for the distance, breaking the previous world record of 18:07.08 which had stood to Russian Mikhail Shchennikov since 1995.
"It was a dream to set at least the Italian record, it's crazy that the world record came!” said Fortunato as quoted by FIDAL.
Fortunato will be aiming to defend his individual and team 20km race walk titles at the European Race Walking Team Championships which takes place in Podebrady on 18 May.
16-year-old Inzoli jumps 7.93m for long jump gold
In the absence of Mattia Furlani, 16-year-old Daniele Inzoli stepped up to claim his first senior title in the long jump with an outright lifetime best of 7.93m in his first competition of the season.
European indoor and outdoor silver medallist Larissa Iapichino won the women’s long jump title as expected with a best of 6.69m.
And despite the absence of Olympic champion Gianmarco Tamberi and Stefano Sottile, there was also a high quality men’s high jump on the first day of the championships with Matteo Sioli clearing 2.28m to beat Manuel Lando (2.26m) and Federico Celebrin (2.23m).
Steven Mills for European Athletics