Antonella Palmisano retires in the 20 km march: the beautiful gesture of winner Maria Perez

The 20-kilometer march at the World Athletics Championships being held in Tokyo did not give medals to the Italian colors in either the men&#8217s or women&#8217s fields. The eyes of Italian fans were particularly focused on Antonella Palmisano, silver medalist at the same rainbow event in the 35-kilometer race, but the Apulian athlete was forced to withdraw due to physical problems.

The Olympic champion in Tokyo 2020 explained to the microphones of Rai Sport what led her’to abandon the race during the eleventh kilometer: “I tried to stay in front but by doing so I sinned mentally – said the Italian champion -. I began to feel fatigue at the muscular level, when I saw that the leading group had a better pace I preferred to stop”.

The race was won in 1h25’54” by Maria Perez, who thus made it a double having also won the 35 km. The Spanish marcher made a nice gesture towards Palmisano herself, her great friend: at the finish line the two embraced and walked a section of the lap of honor together. Closing out the race podium were Mexico&#8217s Alegna Gonzalez (1h26’06”) and Japan&#8217s Nanako Fujii (1h26’18”).

As for the men’s race, the new world champion is Brazil’s Caio Bonfim, who completed the course in 1h18’35”, beating China’s Wang Zhaozhao by only eight seconds. The bronze medal went to Paul McGrath, a British-born Spaniard, who was burned in a sprint by the Chinese and authored an overall time of 1h18’45”. Francesco Fortunato, the first of the Italians, finished in 16th place with a time of 1h21’00”.