SENT TO EUGENE. Battutist Massimo Stano today marches on a new road: 35 kilometers, the unprecedented distance with which the march gives itself a second Olympic life, archived the grueling 50 km, open to women only in recent years, it’s time to test in a World Cup the shortened race, the women’s race said that with this scissor cut it is easier to compete in both distances, now it’s up to the men and the change is for Stano to laugh about it.
He doesn’t like to take her seriously, it’s an approach that tires him out. No pressure, “to begin with, this can’t be my race, I never did it and then I didn’t win the Olympics. I finished second ”. Not really, he took the gold in Tokyo and with some determination as well. He was convinced, trained, motivated and this time the preparation changed only based on the kilometers. Less long jobs, more intensity, always under the guidance of Patrizio Percesepe who trains both gold medals of 2021, only Antonella Palmisano is injured. For Stano it is as if there were: “It gives me energy whatever he says, even that he ate lasagna. I pay tribute to women the power they deserve also because at home, with his wife and daughter, we are 2-1 and I line up “.
He didn’t see the route because he doesn’t like doing it, “I’m already quite bored during the race” and got two tips from Brugnetti who won an Olympic gold medal in the 20 km, in 2004, and also has a world title in the 50. km “he finds a summary for me”.
Stano is the last blue gold in Tokyo to compete here and also the only one who can confirm himself. He does not let himself be overwhelmed by the idea, but he knows that an encore would change the mood of Italy. It was known that here, in this US-branded competition, it was hard to struggle after the intoxicating successes and it is also known that athletics cannot lose the interest and involvement that it has moved after the five triumphs at the Games. It is not up to Stano to guarantee continuity, but getting back on the road would still be important, especially after seeing the final of the 4x100m without the Azzurri who sent the Italians into ecstasy last summer. He always comes back there, inevitable. And the US did not win this time either, silver in 37 ”55 behind De Grasse’s Canada (37” 48), English in bronze, 37 ”83. Another film compared to the Olympics: the Italy of Patta, Tortu, Desalu and Ali stopped in a dull and slow qualification, 38 ”74. Replacing Jacobs was a difficult task but here no one has repeated it or has come even close. It is forbidden to say that it is a World Cup to be thrown away or to count only the medals that up to now are limited to the third place in the top of Elena Vallortigara, because the average level rises and the fourth and fifth place of Dallavalle and Ihemaje in the triple are the yet another test. We lack the tips, we miss the great emotions, we miss the Olympic ecstasy, but we are in the thick phase of nostalgia. Just don’t stand still here languishing.