Massimo Stano wins in Dublin (© Sportsfile)
Italy’s Massimo Stano achieved his first victory of the year in what was his final race of 2024, winning over 35km at the World Athletics Race Walking Tour Bronze meeting in Dublin on Sunday (15).
Stano, who won the Olympic 20km title in 2021 and the world 35km title in 2022, dropped long-time leader Ricardo Ortiz of Mexico over the final 5km to win by almost two minutes.
The race started off at a blistering pace, with Stano and Ortiz passing 5km in 20:58 before increasing the pace further to 41:29 at 10km.
Stano – who missed out on a 20km medal by one second at the Paris Olympics earlier this year – continued to wind up the pace over the following 10km to reach 20km in 1:22:54 and he maintained that tempo through 30km (2:04:11) and beyond.
His winning mark of 2:24:19 is the second-fastest time of his career and an automatic qualifying time for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo next September.
“I have spent the last four weeks at an altitude training camp and wasn’t expecting to go as fast as I did today, but there was a great crowd on the course supporting me so in the end it didn’t feel as hard as it should have,” he said.
Ortiz took second place in 2:26:15, finishing comfortably ahead of Olympic 20km silver medallist Caio Bonfim (2:27:48), both men being rewarded with World Championships qualifying marks.
In the women’s 35km, there was a big win for Mexico’s Alejandra Ortega in 2:56:22, finishing five minutes ahead of Gabriela De Souza Muniz (3:01:27) and her Brazilian compatriot Elianay Pereira (3:12:59).
Local athlete David Kenny made a welcome return to competition with a 1:22:31 victory in the men’s 20km with Britain’s Callum Wilkinson taking second (1:23:09). Kenny, the 2021 European U23 silver medallist, missed practically the entire 2024 season through injury. Now training under the guidance of Jamie Costin, he appears very much over his injury problems and on the road to Tokyo.
Mexico’s 2022 world U20 champion Karla Ximena Serrano won the women’s 20km in 1:33:38. Romania’s Alessia Pop, who finished fourth place at the World U20 Championships in Lima in August, won the U20 women’s 10km in a meeting record of 46:29.
