Bruxelles – Legendary Azzurri in Diamond League. Italy makes a splendid hat-trick of historic triumphs on the international athletics circuit. Tamberi, Fabbri and Iapichino raise the prestigious Diamond to the sky, in the last stage of the Brussels Meeting.
The story of the races and the interviews – Source fidal.it
Extraordinary blue evening in Brussels. Leonardo Fabbri, Gianmarco Tamberi and Larissa Iapichino give Italian athletics three victories in the Wanda Diamond League final: it had never happened before that three Italians won the ‘Diamante’ in the same edition. Fabbri excels at the Van Damme Memorial and sets the Italian shot put record with 22.98 in his first throw (+3 centimetres compared to the record achieved in May in Savona), just a hair’s breadth away from 23 metres and only eight centimetres away from the European record set by Ulf Timmermann, who is getting ever closer: he beat three-time Olympic champion Ryan Crouser (22.79).
Per Tamberi’s third victory in the Diamond League finalalways at 2.34 as already happened in 2021 and 2022 in Zurich: the world gold medalist exceeds the measure in the third attempt and wins the head-to-head with the Ukrainian Oleh Doroshchuk (2.31).
To complete the splendid Italian night at the Re Baldovino stadium, there is Larissa Iapichinoreturning to competition after the Paris Olympics, capable of jumping 6.80m in the long jump (0.0) and to conquer the first Diamond Trophy of his career, like Fabbri. The most beautiful image is that of Gimbo who, having won his race, rushes to embrace his two Italian teammates, Larissa and Leo, who together with him signed the feat. Also noteworthy is the fifth place of Ayomide Folorunso in the 400 hurdles (55.37) and the sixth place of Roberta Bruni in the pole vault (4.55).
LEO – He smiles, opens his arms in celebration, receives Crouser’s compliments, runs to hug coach Paolo Dal Soglio, then grabs the tricolor flag and puts it around his neck. It’s a memorable evening for Leonardo Blacksmiths: a cannon shot on the first throw, a volley that was just a hair’s breadth from the 23 meters he had so desired and missed by a hair’s breadth, just a step away from Ulf Timmermann’s European record of 23.06. Unfortunately, Paris cannot be erased in an instant, but Leo’s season is still sensational and one day we will realize even better what he has managed to do: tonight’s is the 35th throw of the year over 22 meters, the masterpiece that is needed to inflict the third defeat in a row in a Diamond League final on the champion Ryan Crouser (22.79) who tonight must surrender to the Florentine from the Air Force and to the ‘hunger’ that has remained in him, or rather has grown, after the Olympics. After the initial blow, comes a null, then a 21.98, two more nulls and a 21.86. Third place for Jamaican Rajindra Campbell (21.95), American Joe Kovacs retired after the first throw.
“I’ve been dreaming of this Diamond all my life – the words of Fabbri, who also wins the 30 thousand dollars of the prize and signs the record of a luxury meeting like the Memorial Van Damme in Brussels – I knew that the only way to beat Crouser would be to shoot everything on the first throw, and so it was. It’s nice to start training again with important stimuli: I know I’m worthy of the European record but also the world record, and next year I’ll try in every way, with the wonderful people around me everything is possible”. To recap: the 27-year-old from Florence, at the moment, is the reigning world silver medalist, world indoor bronze medalist, European champion and Diamond League champion. Fantastic.
GIMBO – Win: done. Jump 2.34 like in the 2021 and 2022 finals: done. Gianmarco Tamberi is the king of the Diamond League for the third time in his career, with the same measure as the first two occasions in Zurich. This is the verdict of the evening in Brussels that, if possible, increases the Olympic regret for Gimbo, who nevertheless appeared serene after the race: “I’m much calmer than in Paris even if there is still a bit of regret – comments the world champion – jumping 2.34 with 10 degrees means everything. It’s a very strong signal, you can react as I did, you have to do it. I dedicate this victory to all those who were close to me in those days. After the Olympics I did five races, I won four. Let’s start again from here”. It’s a passionate back and forth with the Ukrainian Oleh Doroshchuk. An identical path up to the second test at 2.34 (including the 2.28 in the second and the 2.31 in the first). Everything was decided on the third attempt at the ‘symbolic’ measure of the Diamond finals in Gimbo: the Ukrainian did not detach himself and abandoned the jump, the Italian athlete from Fiamme Oro made the bar dance, but it remained up, unleashing the crowd at the Re Baldovino stadium.
LARISSA – The run-up in the decisive jump is millimetric: zero centimeters given to the measure, a 6.80 in the second jump, in the total absence of wind, which will remain at the top for the entire race. The Diamond League is ‘home’ for Larissa Iapichino: in her young career she had already won four stages, but from tonight she can boast the most precious title, the Diamond that shines, the one that belongs only to those who write their name on the final victory. The Italian athlete from Fiamme Oro starts very well with a 6.77 (-0.2) also here with a practically perfect jump (only one centimeter left on the axis). Then it’s just a matter of managing. She avoids the third round, skips 6.61 in the fourth, null in the fifth, 6.64 in the sixth.
Behind her finished a trio of US ‘jumpers’: Monae Nichols 6.68 (0.0), Olympic bronze medalist Jasmine Moore (6.61/0.0) and Quanesha Burks (6.56/+0.1). “Happy to have concluded my season like this and to have found a serene Larissa – said Iapichino -. It’s a good starting point on a personal level. And it was fun because despite the cold I tested myself in a non-optimal situation. Now vacation and see you next year”.
Photo Marta Gorczynska/Diamond League from fidal.it
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