After the European Under-20 Championships, the new star of Italian athletics has withdrawn from the event to be held in Japan in September.

The debate is over: Kelly Doualla has withdrawn from the Italian 4×100 team for the World Championships in Tokyo (September 13-21). The 15-year-old from Lombardy, who clocked 11.21 seconds in the 100m this season (the second-fastest Italian time of the year) and recently won gold at the EYOF in Skopje and the Under-20 European Championships in Tampere, where she also triumphed in the sprint relay with her teammates on Sunday, has communicated her decision to the federation’s top brass through her coach Walter Monti.

The decision was reached after a series of consultations that the young woman had in recent hours—once she returned to her home in Sant’Angelo Lodigiano—first with her parents and then with her coach. President Stefano Mei and technical director Antonio La Torre had expressed their support for her participation in recent days, inviting her to take part. “But we will only take her if she is 100% convinced,“ La Torre said on Monday. ”I believe that Japan could be a formative period, but I know that Monti is opposed to it, and with good reason.”

The reasons—  While the possibility was more than justifiable from a technical point of view, the coach had always been reluctant: “The decision,” he explained some time ago, “will have to be taken collectively, by you first, then by her parents, the federal staff, myself, and the physiotherapist Tabone who brought her back to life. There are many factors to consider: her age, the relative consequences, and the need to take a break after such intense months before returning to school (Kelly attends a scientific high school specializing in sports).”