Italy at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics Italy at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics Italy competed at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics in Paris, France from 6 to 14 August 2005. The nation sent a delegation of 49 athletes (27 men and 22 women) and won one medal at the competition. Alex Schwazer was the bronze medallist in the men's 50 kilometres race walk and he achieved a national record of 3:41:54 hours in the process. It was an unexpected medal, as Schwazer knocked nearly twenty minutes off his previous best that year. Among other Italian performances, three athletes finished fifth in field event finals:
2009 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 20 kilometres walk 2009 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 20 kilometres walk The men's 20 kilometres walk event at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics was held throughout the city of Berlin on August 15, beginning and ending at the Brandenburg Gate. With the 2007 champion and 2008 Olympic silver medallist Jefferson Pérez having retired, the reigning Olympic champion Valeriy Borchin was regarded as strong favourite. He had recorded the world-leading time prior to the tournament and had been undefeated that season. The Olympic third and fourth-place finishers, Jared Tallent and Wang Hao, were regarded as the strongest challengers to Borchin. Italians