The blue, Olympic distance champion, abandons the race
Disappointment and withdrawal for Massimo Stano in the 20 km race walk that opened the Budapest 2023 Athletics World Championships. The blue, Olympic champion in Tokyo over the distance, withdrew after about 1h06′ of the race. The 31-year-old from Puglia has never been in the top positions in the race, which began 2 hours after the initial time scheduled for 8.50 and was held in particular conditions, under constant rain that accompanied the walkers from the first metre.
“My legs weren’t working, initially I was calm because I saw the nervous group. However, things didn’t improve, I struggled: my legs didn’t respond and mentally I lost confidence. I thought about retiring in view of the 35 km, I wanted to bring home a good result. At 10 km I realized that I wasn’t going slowly, but at the 15th km I realized that there was no point in continuing this torture…”, Stano told Rai Sport. The gold went to the Spanish Alvaro Martin. Silver to the Swede Perseus Karlström and bronze to the Brazilian Caio Bonfim.
Source-www.adnkronos.com