We had known this for a few days, but we had kept secrecy until the same athlete decided to make the official communication: Antonella Palmisano will not participate in the 2022 European Athletics Championships.
In an interview on July 29, Palmisano verbatim stated that the probability of her presence at the European Championships in Munich is 0.1%.
For those who know her, having left the light of hope open is part of her character, but in reality we believe it will be very difficult to see her in the race.
The Olympic Champion of the 20km walk will therefore not go hunting for the continental title that she would have wanted to pursue in the event scheduled from 15 to 21 August in the German city, but this physical problem forced her to raise the white flag. For a year and a half she has been suffering from "falling asleep in the left leg", shortly before the Games she had to deal with the inflammation of the genito-femoral nerve in the groin area and after the Games, pains in the leg returned.
“I have always had and dealt with physical problems, still achieving the main objectives set; instead now I come from a long period in which I have not experienced anything constructive and about three weeks from the Europeans, after having already missed the World Championships, I found myself having to stop the preparation. It is the first time that such a thing has happened to me on a psychological level, it is hard", the athlete's statement.
This "falling asleep of the left leg" is not a consequence, as was believed, of a hip dysplasia, but from further tests done at the Rizzoli Institute in Bologna it was ascertained that Palmisano suffers from sciatic nerve fibrosis to be operated on, because it is obstructed the passage of impulses to the nerve of the left leg. At the moment the athlete is treated with infiltrations and hyaluronic acid in the hope that this fibrosis can dissolve and free the passage of the sciatic nerve.
The European Championships are upon us and Antonella's tortuous recovery will most likely be subsequent: we hope at least to see her compete in at least some end-of-season races which would mean that perhaps surgery is not a priority for the moment.