Marcell Jacobs and companions race to Worlds

Marcell Jacobs in Rome

Florence on May 7, Paris on June 9, and Chorzow for the European Team Championships on June 23-25. At these three stops the Tokyo Olympic gold medalist men’s 4×100 relay team will go in search of a pass to the World Championships in Budapest, which is not yet in the bag. Qualify: this is the watchword, pronounced several times, in chorus, by all the fractionalists, on the first day of the gathering in Rome of the Italian quartet, at work at the Paolo Rosi stadium until Friday (tomorrow, Tuesday, training moves to the Farnesina stadium) to hit the first goal of the season. And fly to Hungary in August, so as to try to forget 2022 and dream again after the excitement of five circles.

The opening morning was an opportunity to strengthen the team spirit, to amalgamate even better the ‘senators’ with the newcomers, including Francesco Libera (fresh from 20.76 in the 200) and hurdler Lorenzo Simonelli aggregated to the group, but also to improve the passing of the baton with the classic manual exercises, and then actually trying the first and third change with the different solutions available. “With the men, you have to have a plan B and a plan C, so we are trying to enlarge the group as much as possible,” explains blue sprint manager Filippo Di Mulo, who is assisted by Giorgio Frinolli in the preparation of the fast quartets.

“The relay is a united group, at the meets we work well and stimulate each other,” observes Olympic 100 and 4×100 champion Marcell Jacobs, “we are all very determined to prove that the Tokyo gold was deserved. This week we will try many changes, then it will be up to Prof Di Mulo to make all his evaluations. May is about to begin, and in the last two years it has been the month when, for me, a few issues have come up: hopefully this time that will not be the case. This season started ‘nay’, but it can finish on top, we are putting all our eggs in the World Cup basket. Debuting on May 7 in my case is too early, we will see if I can run the relay in Paris in Diamond League on June 9.” Meanwhile, for the Sprint Festival Relays at the Ridolfi Stadium in Florence, there is a willingness to compete from Filippo Tortu, Fausto Desalu and Lorenzo Patta, three-quarters of the magical Tokyo lineup.