Athletics, the blue 4×100 mortgages the World Championships: in Grosseto it flies in 38’04, better only at the Tokyo Games

She only went stronger at the Tokyo Olympics: 37″50 in the gold final, after 37″95 in the semifinal. The men’s blue 4×100 of Roberto Rigali, Filippo Tortu, Lorenzo Patta and Samuele Ceccarelli – an unprecedented quartet – in Grosseto, as part of the first day of the Tricolori juniores, runs in 38″04 and finally mortgages the qualification for the World Championships in Budapest on 19-27 August. Italy now, in the appropriate ranking, with the first eight of the Eugene 2022 World Championships already promoted, occupies second place behind Germany (37″97): previously, with 38″38 at the beginning of May in Florence, she was seventh and therefore at risk, given that the first eight will go to Hungary, with the deadline set for Sunday 30th. Impossible, at this point, to miss the target.

The protagonists

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At the fourth attempt – after also Paris and Chorzow – mission accomplished. And everything can be said but not that the federal technical staff led by Filippo Di Mulo and the boys have not tried in every way, dedicating time and resources to the cause. In Grosseto it was forbidden to fail and the risks of certain choices were evidently well calculated. Merit of four fractions of quality and sufficiently valid changes. Rigali, 28 years old from Bergamo – the real novelty – after the recent 10″25 in the 100m and 6″62 on the 60m indoors last January, in the context he was practically making his debut and confirmed himself in great conditions. Tortu, after agreeing to run second, is Tortu and in the relay he is always a giant. Flap, man-guarantee, the same: used to the first fraction, he also distinguished himself in the third. And Ceccarelli, the new Italian speed ace, ran a super straight line, sealing the result.

The accident

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Too bad only for a trivial accident that occurred to Tortu himself: after Ceccarelli’s arrival, when he was still at the start of the 150m, celebrating, his right shoulder came out. “I felt the time – says Filippo already in the car towards Milan, ice on the sore side – I cheered by making a sudden movement, throwing my shoes on the ground in the throes of emotion and what I never would have imagined happened -. The federal physiotherapist Matteo Galderisi immediately intervened, whom I thank and put his shoulder back in its seat. In a few hours I will do the instrumental checks of the case. It shouldn’t be a serious thing. the physio who usually follows us, absent here due to a serious family mourning”. At this point it is useless to wait for the outcome of Sunday’s match in the Diamond League: Australia and Japan, announced, could have overtaken Italy. But now it would count for little or nothing.

Under 23

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To complete the party the Italian under 23 record: Eric Marek, Matteo Melluzzo, Marco Ricci and Junior Tardioli, on Saturday, by winning the under 23 European Championships in Espoo, Finland, with 38″92, had improved it after twelve years. The first three, plus the hurdler Lorenzo Simonelli in place of the injured Tardioli in the fourth fraction, fly in Grosseto in 38″76. The Maremma is good for the blue 4×100.