When Jakob Ingebrigtsen takes to the track on Wednesday at 10:26 p.m. for the 1,500m final, there will be no one who will not fall into the temptation of reminding the Olympic champion that that track demands respect, that in that place, the ’60 Olympic Games , when the track was still ash and the stands were uncovered, a certain Herb Elliott, an insolent Australian, turned the final of the queen’s distance, 3m 35.6, a world record, into an unrepeatable work of art and the feeling that after After that, no one would see the world, or life, the same again.
The Olympic stadium in Rome and its shabby appearance despite its shiny new blue synthetic track imposes, forces the stars to live up to it. Rome was also the scene of the ’74 European Championships, those of the Spain of Mariano Haro and Carmen Valero, and the great tradition of the 4 x 100 relay, and of the ’87 World Cups, those of the first great Ben Johnson-Carl Lewis and the arrangements of the then president of the IAAF Primo Nebiolo with the long jumper Giovanni Evangelisti, the one with the fake jump of 8.38m. And in 2024, nine world champions from Budapest 2023 and 12 Olympic champions from Tokyo 2021 are expected to fly over the heat and love of the fans, led by the incredible Mondo Duplantis, the Swedish double European champion, double world champion and Olympic champion pole vaulter. . “I’m fine, I’m motivated, and I know that in my arms and legs I have a new world record,” says the athlete, current world record holder with 6.24m, who in his last two competitions has tried and touched 6. 25m. And he remembers that in Rome, four years ago, he already set the best outdoor mark in the world at 6.15m. “Although I have not achieved it in each competition, I have been able to collect very important information to continue improving technically.” Mondo, undoubted Olympic champion in Paris if he is not injured, will partner with him the wonderful Dutch hurdler Femke Bol, world champion of the 400m hurdles, goddess of rhythm and steps counted between hurdles, who in her only summer rally has run in 53.07s . Although she is extraordinary, Bol is not unique in the world, and the world of athletics holds its breath awaiting her duel in Paris with the current Olympic champion, North American Sydney McLaughlin, who after a 23rd year in white has returned to the slopes with a record. from 52, 70s. A similar duel awaits then the Norwegian Karsten Warholm, who broke the world record by winning gold in Tokyo (45.94s), with the Brazilian Alison dos Santos. But he will surely get there with another European gold.
Completing the list of stars are the Italian Olympic champions Gianmarco Tamberi (high jump), and Marcell Jacobs (100m, Olympic and world champion), the Norwegian middle distance runner Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the Greek jumper Miltiadis Tentoglou, the Ukrainian jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh, the throwers of discus Daniel Stahl (Swedish, double world champion and Olympic champion) and Mykolas Alekna (Lithuanian, recent world record holder, 74.35m), and the British heptathlete Katarina Johnson Thompson.
You can follow The USA Print in Facebook and xor sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.
_
