Antonella Palmisano leads the 18-strong Italian team for the European Race Walking Cup in Poděbrady in the Czech Republic on 21 May.
Palmisano was one of the world’s leading age-group race walkers and her resume includes a third-place finish in the U20 10km in 2009 as well as a silver medal on the track from the European U20 Championships in the same season.
Palmisano is yet to claim a podium finish in a senior championships but the 25-year-old has been improving steadily since her ascent into the senior ranks and looks set to challenge for the individual honours in Poděbrady.
Palmisano finished seventh at the 2014 European Athletics Championships which was followed by fifth at the 2015 World Championships and fourth at the 2016 Olympics. Her record at the European Race Walking Cup isn’t as distinguished but Palmisano arrives in Podebrady as one of the in-form walkers.
While she hasn’t raced over 20km so far this season, Palmisano smashed the Italian 10,000m record with 41:57.29 in Orvieto last month and just missed the world record of 41:56.23 which has stood since 1990.
Palmisano is part of a four-strong team in the 20km walk which also includes Valentina Trapletti, who won the Italian title at that distance in March.
The men’s team for the 20km walk is led by 22-year-old Francesco Fortunato, who arrives fresh from winning the national crown in a lifetime best of 1:22:04. He is joined by former winner Giorgio Rubino and the experienced Marco De Luca, who finished third in the 50km walk in 2015.