This morning third and final appointment with the athlete’s European march Edoardo Alfieri. It is he who gives the first team gold to the Italian national team, making it climb to the highest step of the podium. The athlete registered for the CZ Lido Youth Sports Center and for the sports and social promotion body Centro Nazionale Sportivo Libertas, three days ago, after winning the third silver (km.5-10 individual and km 10 for nations) , said that on Saturday he would attempt the double feat with the double individual and team gold in the 20 km. The feat was successful: Edoardo Alfieri is the man to beat in the 20km race walk and he is the European dominator of the heel-and-toe discipline over the long distance. The promise has been kept and now returns home with 5 medals around his neck: 3 European vice champion medals in the 5 and 10 km individual and team walking and with yet another European champion title with two gold medals in the 20 km at individual and national level. This last day of September gave him the right satisfaction after his spring exploits in Torun in Poland where at the world championships he had won all the distances of the 5-10-20 km walking races. So it was to be expected that the loot might increase. He had planned it with his president and coach, prof. Santo Mineo, and the Alfieri-Mineo combination was a winner. And at the first light of dawn the final details on how to set up the race, certainly among the most difficult given the fierce competition. And as always the great passion and love for athletics and for the heel and toe discipline won again. The final ranking is as follows:
1-Alfieri Edoardo 1h56:12 Italy;
2- Gallo Rosario 1h59:48 Italy;
3- Luniewski Miroslaw Poland 2h02:17;
4 – Chipeaux Jean-Pierre France 2h10:00;
5- Fissore Paolo Diego Italy 2h13:42.
The sum of times and placings decreed the European Nations title. And now a big celebration in Calabrian sports circles. The company is waiting for him and in a month new adventure (the last of the season) in Alessandria with the national road race title. The athletes find in him a testimonial, they have respect for this character who after the European Championships in Eraclea two years ago confirmed the vastness of his impressive march made from the heart by taking the motto so dear to Mineo. And the heart, as long as it can, gives these moments which become an indelible page of a story, of a life, of an athlete who finds the right redemption for his land right on the podium.
