Athletics, not just Tortu: five reasons to follow the meeting in Savona

Five reasons why not to miss the 12th meeting in Savona memorial Ottolia, the Challenger stage of the 2023 World Athletics Tour, scheduled for tomorrow. Wednesday 24 May (between 4 and 7 pm) at the Fontanassa stadium (live on Rai Play and Atletica TV, delayed on Rai Sport at 7 pm). The appointment, thanks to the cast put together by the volcanic Marco Mura, is increasingly popular. And the Italian movement will be able to confirm that it does not live only on Marcell Jacobs and Gimbo Tamberi.

Tortu, try truth

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Filippo Tortu returns to compete in Liguria for the fifth time, three years after the last one. A traditionally fast track has given him great satisfaction in the past (three victories with, in 2018, a great 10”03). In his third outing of the season after the Italian 4×100 fraction in Florence on May 7 (38″38) and the 200 in Nairobi on the 13th, fourth in 20″30 (+0.9), he faces a 100 against high quality opponents. Four of them have a personal best less than his 9″99: the Ghanaian Benjamin Azamati (9″90), the British Reece Prescord (9″93), an athlete who trains in Padua with Marco Airale, the Ivorian Arthur Cissè (9″ 93) and the Sinhalese (from Rome) Yupon Abeykoon (9”96), a pupil of Claudio Licciardello. Together with them the other British, European bronze in charge, Jeremiah Azu. Spotlights also on Lorenzo Patta, like Tortu, Olympic gold medalist in the 4×100, who ran in 10”13 right in Savona in magical 2021, and on other men in the Italian relay race such as Roberto Rigali, Matteo Melluzzo and Marco Ricci. Two heats are scheduled (at 16.40 and 16.43) on the straight opposite to the finish line, with Filippo in the third lane of the first together with Patta, Abeykoon, Azamati and Azu. The final at 17.52. It is true that the Brianza has moved his sights to the 200m (the European bronze can be considered a prestigious first step), but Savona will tell how he actually is. The last 100 of him dates back to the final of the Assoluti di Rieti on June 25, 2022: third in 10 ”24 (-0.9). 4.40 pm: batteries. 5.52 pm: the final.

The return of Sibilio

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Alessandro Sibilio hasn’t run a 400m hurdles since 3 August 2021, from the Olympic final in Tokyo, that of Karsten Warholm’s 45″91: he was eighth in 48″77, 48 hours after the sparkling 47″93 of the semifinal. More than 21 months, 659 days have passed: between three 400 floors (in June 2022), with a 45″08 full of prospects, but also an injury that actually kept him in the pits for almost a year. The 24-year-old Neapolitan, after a fraction of 4×400 at the Societari, is finally ready to start again. And the test is immediately conclusive: among the rivals, in fact, he finds the Qatari Abderrahman Samba and the Turkish Yosmani Copello, among the best specialists in the world in recent seasons. In an Italian key also Jose Bencosme and Mario Lambrughi. Sibilio’s test will be all the more important considering the 4×400 that still has to stamp the ticket for the Budapest World Championships. Lighthouses, therefore, also on the 400 of Scotti, Lopez, Meli (indoor revelation) and… Desalu. 18.12

Watch out for the two babies

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Lorenzo Simonelli and Mattia Furlani, 20 and 18 years old: now landed in the athletics of the greats, they are part of the future of the Italian movement. On the day when Larissa Iapichino, another 20-year-old gold medalist, made her debut in the outdoor season by jumping in Athens, the first – who was 4/1000 from the indoor continental podium – ran a 110m hurdles with quality opponents, Hassane Fofana included, suitable for hunting down the staff 13”59, missing 5/100 sixteen days ago in Florence. The second is in a long-distance competition where he (also) meets the Olympic finalist Filippo Randazzo, to try to give the eight meters a friendly. Remaining with the jumps in extension, in the triple women pay attention to Dariya Derkach and Ottavia Cestonaro. 5.25 pm: long. 5.45 pm: 110 hours.

Zane’s broadsides

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Zane Weir competes in Italy as European indoor champion for the first time. Belgrade’s gold definitely… launched him, so much so that in this first part of the season, with his success in Halle on Sunday with 21.74, he has already jumped to the top of the world rankings. The South African-born financier in Savona has competed for the past three years always finishing in second place. Together with him the now inseparable Leo Fabbri – his record in the meeting of 21.15 is at risk – and several good foreigners. There are six athletes with a staff over 21 meters. 4.55 pm

Sprint girls

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The magnificent eight, or the girls who make up the group of the 4×100 European bronze and Italian record holder, are all on the Riviera: Dosso (returning individually after the muscle injury on 4 February in Lodz), Pavese, Bongiorni, Hooper and Herrera in the 100 ; Kaddari, Fontana and Siragusa in the 200 (with Dina Asher-Smith!). Together with them Ambra Sabatini, Martina Caironi and Monica Contrafatto, the Paralympic podium in the 100 T63 in Tokyo. La Dosso last year, at the Fontanassa, with 11”19 remained 4/100 from the Italian record of Manuela Levorato; Kaddari, two seasons ago, winning the under 23 European Championships in Tallinn with 22″64, 5 from that of Libania Grenot. Watch out for the stopwatches. By the way: with Mangione, Polinari, Marchiando and Borga no less the 400 are expected. 4.30 pm: batteries 100. 5.07 pm: 200. 5.45 pm: final 100.