Diego Nappi, spectacular gold in the 200 meters at the European Under-20 Championships

Another magic from the sprint. Another gold medal for the Azzurri at the European U20 Championships in Tampere, Finland. On the eve of his 18th birthday, Diego Nappi gives himself a splendid and by no means obvious continental success in the 200 meters with a time of 20.77, despite a lot of headwind (-2.9), one hundredth off his personal best of 20.76 run in the semifinals three hours earlier.

One year after his triumph in Banska Bystrica among the under-18s, the Sardinian also celebrates among the under-20s with an excellent test, characterized by a very aggressive start with which he devoured the Ratina Stadion bend and ran away from favorite Portuguese Pedro Afonso (20.85) and Spaniard Oriol Sanchez (21.03).

It is Italy’s third gold medal after Kelly Doualla’s in the 100 and Erika Saraceni’s in the triple, the fifth for the Italian national team when there is still a day left and several blue cards to play.

“I think it’s the best last day as a junior that you can imagine, tomorrow I will celebrate my birthday with the Azzurri, my parents and my coach – the words of the Sassarese of the Fiamme Oro, coached by Marco Trapasso – On the track the wind in my face was absurd for the throw, but that start made me win, I was afraid of falling however I managed to hold it. I feel like crying when I think about the cheering of my teammates, they take so much weight off my head, and a dedication in this race is also for Elisa Valensin. Inspiration comes from the blue sprinters, in general from the whole absolute team, who give us great motivation. I hope one day to be there in that relay, and I also owe something to Filippo Tortu who helped me, all it took was a call: for him a small gesture, for me huge”.