The blue from Auronzo is fourth in the 10 thousand after a splendid race. Personal best on the track lowered by over one minute and 20 seconds
TALLIN (ESTONIA).A spectacular Gaia Colli touches the bronze medal at the under 23 European Championships in athletics. The blue from Auronzo di Cadore, Polisportiva Caprioli school and now in the Brembana Valley Athletics, wins fourth place over the ten-kilometer distance in Tallinn, Estonia. He does so at the end of a test characterized by great regularity, after having cherished for almost half the race the possibility of finishing on the third step of the podium.
It is a very tidy performance, that of the Belluno born in 1999, which from the beginning was in the top six. Three kilometers from the start, the leading quartet breaks the delay and Colli, fifth, is the only one capable of trying to mend the tear. Halfway through the race, the leading quartet loses a piece, the German Dieterich, while Colli continues to grind enough meters to be able to catch and overtake the English Bolton (who until then had occupied the third position).
When there are 3.5 kilometers to go to the finish line, two of the three U23s on the podium are blue: there is Arnaudo (who gives life to a thrilling duel with the Dutch Lau for the most precious medal) and there is Colli (forced to defend himself from the attempts to make up under Bolton). With 2.5 km from the finish, Bolton raises the white flag, but it is the German Oed who takes on Gaia Colli’s ankles.
Until the last lap the Belluno resists the pressure, then she is forced to give up and settle for – so to speak – a splendid fourth place in Europe. With a dizzying time: 33.44.90, over one minute and twenty seconds better than his previous personal best on the track (35.05).
The other blue star of the race, Anna Arnaudo, takes home a silver medal that embellishes the Italian booty in Tallinn. Ranking: 1. Jasmijn Lau (Netherlands) 32.30.49, 2. Anna Arnaudo (Italy) 32.36.98, 3. Lisa Oed (Germany) 33.35.99, 4. Gaia Colli (Italy) 33.44.90.
Another Belluno will land in Tallinn next week. The athlete of the Firex Belluno Thomas Serafini, in fact, will compete in the 1500 at the European under 20 championships that are scheduled, also in the Estonian capital, from 15 to 18 July.