13/06/2019   Massimo Stano interviewed by Marcia dal Mondo






The athlete of the day in Italy is Massimo Stano.
Marcia dal Mondo interviewed him.
 
 
 
When did you start with athletics?
 
It all started when I was five years old, I liked to do speed races between 2 flights of stairs, more or less 50m (I almost always won).
One day I saw a flyer that spoke of Athletics and I immediately wanted to try!
 
 
Who was your first coach and why did you choose race walk?
 
My first coach was Giovanni Zaccheo. He made me try all the specialties but he immediately noticed my predisposition to race walking.
I was a good young boy in other specialties, but race walk gave me the most beautiful satisfactions.
Among other things I love race walking because it is the intersection between "fatigue" and "technique", as I liked to say to my coach. Maybe that's why I immediately became passionate.
 
 
How were your "relationships" as a young man with the judges?
 
The year 2008 was quite traumatic for me as U16. At the Italian U16 championships 500m from the finish, my first disqualification came (at that time there was no rule of penalties). And I came to those championships with the Italian U16 record 4000m: 17:07 (still unbeaten).
 
 
When did you think you could have success?
 
At the U23 Europeans I started to believe that I could be worth something good.
In the race I finished fourth with 2:00 of personal best (1:25:25) although I had arrived at that test in "piteous" conditions. The subsequent events of life meant that the fourth place, following other problems related to doping, became a silver.
 
 
Are you happy with your junior performances?
 
As a junior  (U20) I finished 5th at a European, and 13th at the World Championship.
Let's say I'm quite happy because then, like today, I always gave my best.
 
 
Since 2016 there has been a change of coach, why?
 
I had made a first baton from Zaccheo to Alessandro Gandellini with a transfer to Milan.
Unfortunately a series of injuries Gandellini could not yield what we both hoped.
I asked Patrizio Parcesepe to take my technical guide.
Further transfer to Rome, but there I found the perfect "Trinomial" (Coach-Workgroup-Structure).
 
 
Your great defeat: the one you still remember the bitterness of?
 
In my mini career the hardest "defeat" to face was the disqualification a few laps before the end of the race at the Italian Individual Championships in Trieste in 2017.
That disqualification bar me from qualifying for the World Championships in London, where I did not participate. I think I could have been done well because I was growing.
 
 
In the last two years, in which race did you feel the best feelings?
 
I could say Taicang in China at the World Team Championships.
I would like to say Berlin at the European Championships.
Obviously, however, today I can only say "La Coruna" the race that the gave me the new Italian Record.
It is the race that had a parterre of athletes unique in the world and only Eider Arevalo, World Champion, was missing.
I felt unthinkable and indescribable sensations, I didn't think I could go so strong even if someone told me: go yourself for it, you're worth for it.
We will see what the future holds ...