Italy’s Antonella Palmisano got Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships off to an ideal start for the hosts as she won the first gold medal after a remorseless display in the women’s 20km race walk.
And the home celebrations were redoubled after 38-year-old Valentina Trapletti’s late surge took her through to silver, with bronze being snatched in dramatic fashion by Ukraine’s Lyudmila Olyanovska as she overtook Spain’s aghast figure of Laura Garcia-Caro, who had begun her celebrations a few paces away from the line.
After competing 19 laps of the Foro Italico, Palmisano headed off for the finish in the Stadio Olimpico and crossed the line to huge acclaim in 1:28:08, with Trapletti clocking a personal best of 1:28:37 and the third and fourth placed walkers both returning a time of 1:28.48.
At the previous day’s press conference the 32-year-old Olympic champion had recalled that the late Pietro Mennea, who won the 200m when this Championship was last held in the Stadio Olimpico 50 years ago, came from her city, adding: “He wrote his story here – and maybe he will accompany me here…”
Today, as the evening sun slanted over the Olympic Park, Palmisano wrote her own story as her shadow, and her lead, grew ever longer.
The break came at 10km – and once Palmisano, her face set behind sunglasses, with ice bags over her shoulders and the distinctive flower she wears while racing lodged in her hair, had made the move there was no reversing it.
The day before she had explained how her victory at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics had been followed by a dark period of injury which required surgery. “I say that in 2021 I changed, in 2022 I was broken and in 2023 I opened my eyes,” Palmisano commented. “And now in 2024 I am here.
“The injury following the Olympics changed me a lot because that is where you understand you have a strength inside that changes and supports you. After injury and surgery I fully understood what I really wanted - to continue to compete.
“For me there are positive vibes because we are competing at home and we are a strong team. We are also going to have energy from spectators.”
All of this came true for her as she added European gold to the bronze she had won six years earlier in Berlin.
“Last year I go through a lot of problems but every day I told myself to go on and on, because I knew that here in Rome we all have the opportunity to do something really historical,” she said.
“The race track was fantastic, amazing. The audience was perfect: I hadn't seen a crowd like this since London 2017.
“Sharing the podium with Valentina Trapletti is fantastic. She did a perfect race: we took the first gold and first silver medal here in Rome and we hope that more will come in the next days.
“Finally, I want to dedicate this medal to Massimo Stano: he is injured and cannot be here in Rome and I know hard is to miss an event like this. Winning in Rome was a dream, now I want do my best to win again at the Olympics, in Paris,” she said.
Trapletti added: “If Antonella Palmisano is the queen of Rome, I am the princess! It's really incredible to get this silver medal. The audience supported us each metre of the race: Roma is a kind of magic and at a certain point I lost focus and felt like I didn't understand anything. When I entered the stadium, I got emotional. I achieve this medal at 38 and I understood that it's never too late.”
Dramatic late charge from Olyanovska
As Palmisano drove on at the front, raising her right arm in triumph as she moved out to approach the stadium, the drama of the race resided behind her as her teammate, with a national flag already trailing from her shoulders, held off the Spanish challenge to claim second place.
Palmisano collected her own flag shortly after entering the stadium and pressed on for the line which she crossed with both arms raised, to huge acclaim.
Trapletti, gritting her teeth, soon joined her but there was drama right at the close as an exhausted Garcia-Caro, carrying a Spanish flag, began to celebrate bronze before realising that Olyanovska had suddenly arrived on her inside.
Her face changed in an instant from joy to horror and she tried to redouble her pace. But the medal was lost – and won.
“ I was tired in the last kilometre and last metres, but I wanted to win this medal for my country so much,” Olyanovska said.
“Nowadays, there is a war in Ukraine. We train under very difficult conditions. I do not know even if my five-year-old son saw me competing today because in Ukraine the infrastructure is broken. They do not have electricity, there is no internet, no light, so I do not know if he saw me on the TV.”
Mike Rowbottom for European Athletics