Fortunato smashes world short track 5000m race walk record
1st March 2026European bronze medallist Francesco Fortunato took almost 13 seconds off the world short track record* when winning the 5000m race walk in 17:54.48 at the Italian Indoor Championships in Ancona on Saturday (28).
The Italian race walker had clocked 17:55.65 at these championships last year, but the performance was not ratified due to a technical judging issue, meaning Mikhail Shchennikov’s 18:07.08 clocking from 1995 remained the ratified world short track record.
“I’m satisfied with myself,” said Fortunato. “I came here to try again and I didn’t give up. After the disappointment last year, I felt this was a record I deserved.”
*Subject to the usual ratification procedure