Great double for Italy in the first final that awards medals at the European Championships in Rome. The first title goes to Antonella Palmisano, master of the 20 kilometer walk at the end of a race dominated and won in a time of 1h28:09 on the course in the Foro Italico park, around the Stadio dei Marmi with the arrival on the track of the Stadio Olimpico. Behind her is Valentina Trapletti’s silver, second in 1h28:37 with her personal best improved by over a minute.
The Olympic champion Palmisano, a 32-year-old from Puglia of the Fiamme Gialle, makes the decisive breakthrough at the twelfth kilometer and adds another gold to her wonderful collection which also includes two world bronzes (2017 and 2023) and a European bronze (2018), in addition to the five-ring gold in 2021. The Milanese Trapletti, bearer of the Army, at 38 years old rejoices in a season that has already seen achieving success in the relay at the World Team Championships. In the history of the European Championships, it is the third gold for the Italian women’s race walk after the two victories of the unforgettable Annarita Sidoti over 10 kilometers in 1990 and 1998. Bronze went to the Ukrainian Lyudmila Olyanovska in 1h28:48.
