From news released two days ago from the website of the German Athletics Federation, it has learned that the world record for the 5000m indoor race walk, set last February 22 in Ancona by Francesco Fortunato, has not ratified by World Athletics. The reason, as the original news report states, was that “there were not enough judges present“. The WA newsletter of May 5, 2025 describes the issue and the related decision in more detail indicating the lack of level of the judges:
Many have not understood what really happened, so it is necessary to reread the regulations to better understand the dynamics of this little “mystery”. The WA regulation states that to recognize the validity of a world record, the racewalking jury must have at least three world (GOLD) or area (SILVER) international judges. Specifically, here is the original World Athletics competition regulation:
On the occasion of the Italian Indoor Championships last February 22nd the jury was the following:
So a SILVER level judge (highlighted in blue), two BRONZE level judges (highlighted in orange) and the others at national level, that is, a jury that is adequate for the event, sufficient to ratify a performance valid for qualifying for the major international championships (this is not the case since it is an indoor racewalking event), but not enough for the validity of the world record.
A real shame for Francesco Fortunato, who in any case set a very respectable performance that was still valid. Unfortunately, when convening the juries in a national championship, it is not possible to foresee that the world record will be made. Perhaps if someone from the Italian technical sector had understood this possibility, it would have been possible to ask the GGG (Italian Competition Judges Group) to summon at least the three judges required by the international rules, given that in Italy there are two SILVER judges and one GOLD and also on other occasions if necessary it has been possible to summon international judges from abroad.
