Nardelli can laugh despite missing the final

When the athletics night session began at 19 p.m. local time in the Tokyo Olympic Stadium, the sun was just setting behind the mighty oval. It had burned mercilessly all day and now it colored the sky in various shades of red. A light wind came up and it got a little cooler. However, it remained heated inside the arena. The women's 4 x 400 meter relay was on - with Italy in the second heat. Just missed the target At exactly 12.37:3.27,74 p.m. CEST, Maria Benedicta Chigbolu shot out of the starting block onto lane four. She handed over to Alice Mangione and Petra Nardelli took off in third place. The final runner was Rebecca Borga and after exactly 0,150:XNUMX minutes the Italy Express crossed the finish line. The quartet had set a new season's best and, at XNUMX seconds, also had the best reaction time of all teams, but they couldn't buy anything for that. Because it was only enough for seventh place and that was the end of the Olympic appearance. “Unfortunately it wasn’t enough and that’s why we’re a little disappointed.” Petra Nardelli “We wanted to run under 3.27 and were initially happy that four of us from our team were selected from among nine athletes. “We started the race very motivated, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough and that’s why we’re a little disappointed,” said Nardelli immediately after the run as she walked through the press area with her teammates. Even around 15 minutes after the run, all four were still completely out of breath and their efforts were evident. But Nardelli immediately added: “You shouldn’t forget that we are here at the Olympic Games. The 16 nations taking part all qualified and just being here was an honor.” Nardelli thinks a lot Chigbolu finished the first lap in sixth place, 1,5 seconds behind the leader. Mangione initially fell back a little, but handed over to Nardelli in fifth. She had to refuel a bit in the transition area before she reached the inside lane. “You lose a little bit and lose your rhythm,” she said, and she wasn’t entirely happy with the passing of the baton to Borga. “The change was a little late,” said Nardelli and you could tell that the run was still working a little in her head.

“Actually, they don’t have anything that we don’t have,” she said when asked about the competition. In the end it was significantly faster and the USA won in 3.20,86:3 minutes. Great Britain finished third in 3.23,99:XNUMX minutes, which was enough to qualify for the final. “Perhaps the others had a bit more luck today or were in a better mood these days. “Sometimes it’s little things that make up a few hundredths,” says Nardelli.

In the first heat, Poland won in 3.23,10:7, but even there Italy would only have finished 25th with its time and would not have slipped into the final via the time classification (in addition to the three first-place finishers from both races, the other two fastest relays advanced). Nevertheless, the XNUMX-year-old Nardelli drew a positive conclusion from her first Olympic Games. “It was nice to be here and to be selected. It was just nice emotions to be here and tomorrow the world will look completely different again. I hope that I can be there again in Paris," said Nardelli, who is looking forward to witnessing the closing ceremony on Sunday may.

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Nardelli can laugh despite missing the final

Petra Nardelli made her Olympic appearance on Thursday in the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo. After the preliminary heat in the 4 x 400 m relay she was a little disappointed, but still happy to have been there.

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