Spain’s Joan Querol set a new championships record with a gritty victory in the men’s 10,000m race walk at the European Athletics U20 Championships on Sunday (10).
Tampere 2025 is being live streamed on the European Athletics website courtesy of Eurovision Sport.
In a thrilling contest with pre-race favourite, world U20 bronze medallist Giuseppe Disabato of Italy, he pulled clear on the penultimate lap towards gold in 39:10.04.
It is the fourth fastest time ever by a European in the U20 age group, also the European lead and a national U20 record. It also completed a Spanish race walk double, following Sofia Santacreu's victory in the women's race on Saturday (9).
Fascinating battle
Disabato, world U20 bronze medallist last year, set the tempo right from the gun leading a breakaway group of five by 500 metres which also included teammate Alessio Coppola and Spanish trio Querol, Daniel Monfort and Miguel Espinosa Olivares.
Perhaps realising it was a pace he simply could not live with, Coppala was the first to drop off on the third lap, reducing the lead pack to four.
At 2.5k, Espinosa Olivares also lost touch and the halfway point Monfort began to labour. With 10 laps to go, Disabato created a gap of around five metres to Querol. But the Spaniard kept the Italian within his sights.
Encouraged by the Italian not stretching away, Querol nosed in front with five laps to go. The two athletes ran in lock step over the closing laps, playing cat and mouse with the lead changing hands several times.
Disabato surged again with two laps to go to try to break clear, but the Spaniard would not crack, and he made the decisive move with 600 metres to go. This time, Disabato could not respond and by the bell, Querol held a 20 metre lead.
He stretched it to 30 metres on the final lap as he strode to gold, reversing the result between the two athletes from in the men’s U20 race at the European Race Walking Team Championships, Poděbrady in May.
Disabato finished in a national U20 record 39:20.87 adding silver added the bronze he won at the Jerusalem 2023 European Athletics U20 Championships. Monfort dug in for bronze in a personal best 39:50.77. There were a total of 12 lifetime bests in a high-quality race at the Ratina Stadium.
"Pure heart and some passion"
"I tried hard pushing on all the 25 laps," said Querol afterwards. "I was very motivated. This is my first major international medal and it means a lot to me. It is a Spanish record, championships record, it was a bit far from the European record, but it was really nice to see it.
"I tried to not to really look up to clocks and just tried to keep going. Disabato did also a very good job. And on the last lap, he went crazy fast on the main straight and then in the corner, he slowed down. I said, OK, that was my chance and I get him up.
"It was very risky because I had two red cards, so if I had another one, then I would maybe drop. I said, OK, when I lose it, maybe I will be third, which is also a good result for me. It would be a shame to lose the gold medal but I just kept on going. The legs were not working, I was just going from the pure heart and some passion.
"Crossing the line was very emotional and 39.10 is just a crazy time. I know Daniel since I was 12 because we competed in kind of same territory. This kind of things creates a special bond between us. We are rivals, we push 100 percent of us but off the track, we are friends. I like being close to my team mates. I am slow in all the areas that do not need to be, I am only fast at race walking."