The seventh gold of Italy at Tokyo 2020 Olympics comes from the march. Massimo Stano dominates the 20 km and thus becomes Olympic champion by closing the test in 1h21'05 ”and preceding the Japanese Koki Ikeda and Toshikazu Yamanishi. This is the third to come from athletics, after those of Gianmarco Tamberi and Marcell Jacobs. Italy thus embodies the official Olympic motto "Citius, Altius, Fortius”Expression in Latin that means“ Faster, higher, stronger ”. And in Tokyo Italy was the fastest with Jacobs, jumped higher with Tamberi and was the strongest with Stano.
March 20 km, Stano dominates the race
A 20 km walk totally dominated by the 29 year old born in Palo del Colle in the province of Bari. Third halfway through the race, he established a splendid head-to-head with the two Japanese, silver and bronze medal. Only they managed to keep the pace of Massimo Stano until the last lap. The Apulian has further forced the pace and made a void thus winning a well-deserved gold medal.
A dreamed-of victory for an athlete who was aiming for the top ten at the first Olympic event. Having grown up in Molfetta with the Aden Exprivia, Stano is in force at the Fiamme Oro and at the 2019 specialty world championships he had reached the fourteenth place. In the same year he broke the national record and finished fourth at the European Championships in Berlin.
17 years after Ivano Brugnetti in Athens 2004, the biggest victory arrives for the march. With the gold of Stano the Italian march conquers the eighteenth Olympic medal, the ninth gold medal out of a total of twenty-two, those of Jacobs and Tamberi included. Italian athletics hadn't won three titles since Los Angeles 1984.
Paltrinieri, a historical medal
Before Massimo Stano's triumph, Italy had obtained another medal thanks to Greg Paltrinieri. The swimmer took bronze in the bottom. This is the first medal in men's cross-country skiing in the history of the Olympics. For Paltrinieri a legendary race because he thus obtained a medal in the pool and an outdoor, the first Italian athlete to do so. A real feat considering the physical conditions of the swimmer, fresh from mononucleosis that had jeopardized his participation in Tokyo 2020. The Italian finished the race 27 ”4 from the winner Florian Wellbrock, who remained in command throughout the race. In second place the Hungarian Kristof Rasovszky.
The third Olympic medal for Greg Paltrinieri, before him in swimming only Novella Calligaris and Massimiliano Rosolino had succeeded in this feat but he is the only one to have succeeded in only 2 Olympics.
Photo source: Instagram conisocial
Congratulations to the entire team!
Compliments!