Spain’s Sofia Santacreu added another continental accolade to her collection as the championship records fell in both the women’s and men’s U20 10km race walk events at the 2025 European Race Walking Team Championships in Podebrady, Czechia on Sunday (18) morning.
After biding her time in the pack, the European U18 and U20 champion struck out at the front in the seventh kilometre and never looked back, winning in a world U20 leading time and championship record - as well as a Spanish U20 record - of 43:57.
France's Chloe Le Roch gave chase in the closing stages and came away with silver in a lifetime best of 44:02 with Italy's Serena di Fabio - who succeeded Santacreu as European U18 champion in Banska Bystrica last summer - winning bronze, also in a lifetime best of 44:08.
Such were the conditions in Podebrady this morning - as well as the high calibre of the field - the top six finishers all finished well inside the previous championship record of 45:46 which was set by Czechia's Eliska Martinkova on this same course in 2021.
With only two scorers contributing to the team title, Santacreu - who was flanked by Claudia Ventura in fifth - won the U20 team title ahead of France and Italy respectively.
The leading protagonists from Podebrady are likely to renew their rivalry later this summer over this same distance - but this time on the track - at the European Athletics U20 Championships which take place in Tampere, Finland from 7-10 August.
Disabato decimates the record books in the men's U20 10km
Italy’s Giuseppe Disabato was arguably the most dominant winner of the day, winning the U20 men’s 10km race walk title by a winning margin of 90 seconds in an Italian U20 record of 39:28 to shatter the championship record.
The 18-year-old was in dominant and destructive form, covering the fourth kilometre in a fast 3:54 to open up a gap on his rivals which was to grow relentlessly in the last six kilometres.
At the four kilometres mark in 15:57, Disabato led Spain’s Joan Querol Serrano by 11 seconds and by the eight kilometre checkpoint in 31:39, the Italian’s lead had extended out to over a minute ahead of Serrano.
Just hours after Massimo Stano smashed the world record in the 35km race walk with 2:20:43, Disabato proved the future of Italian race walking looks bright as he continued the excellent day for L’Azzurri by winning 10km gold in a championship record and world U20 leading time of 39:28, shattering the previous championship record of 41:35 by over two minutes.
Serrano came home a distant second for the silver medal in 40:58 with European U18 champion Alessio Coppola taking individual bronze in a lifetime best of 41:09 to seal team honours for Italy ahead of Spain and Ukraine.
Like Santacreu, Disabato will now turn his focus to the 2025 European Athletics U20 Championships in Tampere where he will be looking to improve on the bronze medal which he won two years ago in the 10,000m race walk at the age of 16.