Gianmarco Tamberi, last world test
Gianmarco Tamberi in Germany
The last test before the World Championships is coming up for Gianmarco Tamberi. The Olympic high jump champion will be competing Sunday in Heilbronn, Germany, in the square meet that picked up the tradition of Eberstadt, where Gimbo found one of the best jumps of his career, the 2.37 of 2015. On Saturday, meanwhile, world bronze medalist Elena Vallortigara will be on the platform, again in the Marktplatz, to look for answers ahead of the World Championships in Budapest.
Friday marks the departure of Tamberi, who on Sunday from 2 p.m. will compete in the state of Baden-Württemberg exactly two weeks before the qualifying round in Budapest, scheduled for the morning of Sunday, Aug. 20 (at 10:35 a.m.), when he will go in search of the rainbow final two days later (Tuesday, Aug. 22 at 7:55 p.m.). For the Fiamme Oro Italian it will be the fourth outing of the year after a 2.29 debut at the European Team Championships in Chorzow, when he won the individual competition and raised as Italian captain the ‘European Cup’ trophy, a performance followed by 2.12 in the rain in Stockholm and a remarkable 2.34 in the Diamond League again on the Chorzow platform, a measurement that currently places him third on the year’s lists among those eligible for the World Championships (Barshim 2.36, Harrison 2.35). Among the opponents, the presence of Germany’s 2.34 Tobias Potye, chief rival of the Italian in the triumphant European Championships in Munich, but also of Australians Brandon Starc and Joel Baden, and Ukrainians Andriy Protsenko and Oleh Doroshchuk, is especially noted.
Vallortigara, Saturday at 2 p.m., comes to Germany after winning the Italian title in Molfetta with 1.87, a measurement that clearly does not reflect her value. The goal is to add centimeters and awareness, to project herself with more confidence to the rainbow challenge: she meets the world champion, Australia’s Eleanor Patterson, 2.02 in last year’s exciting final at Hayward Field where instead the Carabinieri’s Azzurra finished third with 2.00. Also announced are Britain’s Morgan Lake and Germany’s Marie-Laurence Jungfleisch.
