Diadora with Massimo Stano reinvent the walking shoe

The Tokyo Olympian: «Currently it doesn’t exist, we use the marathon one but it’s not good». Polegato: “Immediately in the laboratory to create a shoe model”

CAERANO SAN MARCO. With the collaboration of Massimo Stano, gold medalist at the Tokyo Olympics in the 20 km walk, Diadora aims to create that shoe for walkers that is not there today. “We walk with marathon shoes, not walking shoes”, explains the Olympic champion, visiting Diadora in Caerano, “currently we have to adapt to marathon shoes, but it is obvious that a specific shoe for our technical gesture facilitates us” . A product that Massimo Stano will elaborate together with another sample, Gelindo Bordin, the former marathoner. At the Caerano headquarters they are already working on this prototype, which will then be tested and presented for approval to the Federation. “It is a product that we are testing and perfecting,” adds Gelindo Bordin. “The walking shoe was there more than twenty years ago, then it was no longer produced, but today we can no longer present it again: we will create a specific shoe that facilitates the technical gesture of the walker, which has its own specificity with respect to the race ».

In this project Diadora is making important investments with innovative materials and machinery. “Our research is and will be increasingly focused on the world of running and walking, which is its adjacent discipline, as well as on tennis shoes”, explains the president of Diadora. Enrico Moretti Polegato“We are concentrating in these sectors with a high quality made in Italy production and the markets are proving us right, so much so that in the American market our growth of more than double digits is emerging”.

On Wednesday 18 May 2022, the Olympic and Italian walking champion underwent two hours of tests in the Diadora research center to study ad hoc products for his category and then, together with President Moretti Polegato, visited the diadora museum. «My dream», Stano later said, «is to see my walking shoe at the Diadora museum, together with all the greats who have made this brand famous in history».