ANTONELLA PALMISANO
Date of Birth: 06/08/1991
Place of Birth: Mottola (Taranto)
Weight x Height: 49 x 1,66
Speciality: 20km Race Walk,
First Club: Polisportiva Don Milani
Club: Fiamme Gialle
First Coach: Tommaso Gentile
Coach: Lorenzo Dessi
Other Sports: Volleyball
Hobby: Music, cooking, drawing
Relationship Status: Married
Olympic Club: Yes
Olympic Appearances:
3 (Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020, Parigi 2024)
Biography
Until 2003 she practised volleyball. She then moved on to race-walking, training in Mottola with a group of youngsters led by coach Tommaso Gentile. Among her many achievements victory in the junior World Cup in Chihuahua in 2010 stands out. In 2012, she moved to Rome. She competes with a colourful felt flower on her head, made by her mother. She narrowly missed out on podiums at the World Championships in Beijing in 2015 and at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. She more than made up for it between 2017 and 2018, when she took first world bronze and then European bronze. The great highlight of her career, however, was the gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. In 2023 on the streets of Budapest she again won a world championship bronze, putting a delicate operation on her left hip behind her. Since the autumn of the same year, she has been coached by her husband and former heel and toe colleague Lorenzo Dessi, under whose guidance in Paris 2024 she wants to defend the Olympic title obtained in Japan.
Palmares
Olympic Games
4a Rio (BRA) 2016 - 20 km
1a Tokyo (JPN) 2020 - 20 km
DNF Parigi (FRA) 2024 - 20 km
6ª Parigi (FRA) 2024 - Staffetta mista
World Championships
51ª Saransk (RUS) 2012 - 20 km
12a Mosca (RUS) 2013 - 20 km
9ª Taicang (CHN) 2014 - 20 km
5a Pechino (CHN) 2015 - 20 km
3a Londra (GBR) 2017 - 20 km
17ª Taicang (CHN) 2018 - 20 km
13a Doha (QAT) 2019 - 20 km
3a Budapest (HUN) 2023 - 20 km
DNF Antalya (TUR) 2024 - Staffetta mista
European Championships
7a Zurigo (SUI) 2014 - 20 km
3a Berlino (GER) 2018 - 20 km
1ª Roma (ITA) 2024 - 20 km