Filippo Tortu runs in the footsteps of Pietro Mennea

The words of Filippo Tortu

If I went under 20 seconds? “Nothing crazy, I would celebrate at dinner with my friends. And I would be mad because I didn’t do it before. But only if it is the last race of the season, otherwise I would stay focused.”

One of the three goals of the year is just that, for Filippo Tortu: to breach the barrier that only the legend Pietro Mennea has been able to break in Italian 200-meter history. The 4×100 Olympic champion tells it in the talk on AtleticaTV, the streaming platform of the Italian Athletics Federation.

His other goals for the upcoming season, at least at the individual level, are quickly stated: the 200-meter world final in Budapest in August and the Wanda Diamond League final in Eugene the following month. “I had a good time in Eugene last year, when I missed the world final by only three thousandths,” explains Tortu, at a personal best of 20.10 in Oregon, “so I want to go back. It would be the final event of a season that will begin between late April and early May: the idea is to debut in the 100. We are looking for the right date and venue. To then run the first 200 in the early days of May. Everything is functional for this distance, which is now mine, and which I understand a little better each time. I am working a lot on the curve; last year I had a little trouble interpreting it. The truth is that the 200 has never frightened me, but in a sports career there are phases to be respected: and it came when an important chapter in the 100 was closed. Which anyway I will do 2-3 times in the season, and I do not even exclude that it will be at the Absolute.” Other stages are already indicated in his June agenda: “The Golden Gala in Florence, the relay in Paris on the 9th, the ‘European Cup’ in Poland.”