European bronze medallist Francesco Fortunato smashed the long-standing world indoor 5000m race walk record at the Italian Indoor Championships in Ancona, clocking 17:55.65*.The 30-year-old covered the first kilometre in 3:39.6, then increased the pace to reach 2000m in 7:16.9. He went through 3000m in 10:54 and covered the final kilometre in a swift 3:29 to cross the finish line in 17:55.65, taking more than 11 seconds off Mikhail Schennikov’s world indoor record set 30 years ago.“It was a dream to improve the Italian record, so it’s crazy that the world record fell too,” said Fortunato, who was on the triumphant Italian team for the marathon mixed relay at last year’s World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships in Antalya. “Today I killed two birds with one stone. I’m very happy, it’s a great achievement.”
*Subject to the usual ratification procedure
