U-20 World Championships: A Historic Day for Italy—Serena Di Fabio Wins Gold

It was a Saturday to remember for Italian track and field at the Under-20 World Championships in Eugene, United States. The Italian race walking team had a historic day, with Serena Di Fabio winning gold in the 5,000 meters and Nicolò Vidal taking bronze—setting a new Italian record for his age group—in the men’s race. Rounding out the triumph is a new Italian Under-20 record in the women’s 4×400.

The star of the show is Serena Di Fabio. The 18-year-old from Cepagatti (Pescara) in the Abruzzo region, who competes for the Fiamme Azzurre after coming up through the Polisportiva Tethys Chieti, won a gold medal—a first for an Italian woman in the women’s race walk at the Under-20 World Championships.

Coached by Nicola Piro, Di Fabio took the lead right from the start and set a pace her opponents couldn’t keep up with. Her split times—8:17.73 at the 2-kilometer mark and 12:26.76 at the 3-kilometer mark—attest to a race run with great confidence and consistently clean technique. Not even China’s Yang Yutong, who had finished ahead of her in the 10 km race at the World Team Championships in Brasília, was able to keep up with the Italian. Di Fabio crossed the finish line in 20:57.57, a new championship record, with a lead of about 20 seconds over France’s Chloe Le Roch.

For Italy, this is the third medal in women’s race walking in the history of the Under-20 World Championships, following the bronze won by Maria Grazia Orsani in 1988 and the silver by Noemi Stella in 2016, earned over the double distance. The number of Italian athletes finishing in the top 8 in this event has also risen to 13, thanks in part to Beatrice Palmonari’s sixth-place finish, where she clocked an excellent 21:59.41—a new personal best improved by about half a minute.