Larissa Iapichino one step away from 7 meters
The words of Larissa Iapichino
Outstanding Larissa Iapichino, still one step away from seven meters, unbeatable in the 2023 Diamond League: her third victory out of three comes in the long jump in Monte Carlo with a superlative final jump to 6.95 (+0.3), a measure with which she overtakes the U.S. Tara Davis (6.88/+0.2) and Serbia’s Ivana Vuleta (6.86/0.0) in extremis one month before the World Championships in Budapest. The Italian jumper of the Fiamme Gialle placed an all-growing series, jump after jump, measure after measure: 6.62 in the first, then a null, then 6.72, 6.74, 6.81 and finally 6.95, which improves by two centimeters the personal outdoor record set last Sunday when she won gold at the European U23 Championships in Espoo (6.93) and just two centimeters from the indoor record that in Istanbul in March gave her silver at the European Indoor Championships (6.97). Three out of three: the triumph at the Herculis Meeting after those at the Golden Gala in Florence and the Bauhaus-Galan in Stockholm, a very clear message to the world, just a few weeks before the World Championships kick off on Aug. 19, the day of the long qualifying event, on the eve of the finals on Aug. 20.
“It is a beautiful moment and I try to enjoy it to the fullest, although I am aware that it may not last forever and that there will be ups and downs – the words of Larissa Iapichino, 21 years old on Tuesday – but it is all part of the journey. I hope to continue to experience athletics like this, with tranquility: on the one hand I’m getting used to treading these platforms, and on the other I feel like a little girl who still can’t believe that she has won three consecutive Diamond League legs. Today, without my daddy-coach Gianni staying home, I built the race step by step and it was a new experience. The World Championships are a month away, there are no favorites in my specialty, and I want to get there in the best way possible.”
What happened in the 400hs is told by a disconsolate Alessandro Sibilio, withdrawn in the race of a devastating Karsten Warholm, Diamond League record with 46.51 for the Norwegian: “Reluctantly I fear that another season is gone – the comment of the Italian of the Yellow Flames – after big four hurdles I felt discomfort in my left thigh, in the same place as last year’s injury. I still have that percentage of hope left but we athletes feel it when it is something important. And I felt a sharp pain coming down from the fourth hurdle. Fate has been playing against me for the past two years. I am really sorry because I had heard so many Italian fans shouting my name at the Louis II stadium.” Already tomorrow, when he returns to Italy, he will undergo tests for a thorough diagnosis. Meanwhile, Warholm’s run (fourth fastest time of any era after her 45.94 in Tokyo, Rai Benjamin’s 46.17 at the Olympics and Dos Santos’ 46.29 in Eugene 2022) is to die for. Alison Dos Santos himself, a Brazilian, debuted with 47.66 and was ahead of Cj Allen of the United States (47.84).
