Gambling doesn’t pay off, so the medal vanishes. The World Relay Championships 4×100 made in Brescia ends with disqualification in the finalas the baton passes from the hand of Marcell Jacobs to that of Lorenzo Patta beyond the substitution zone.
Wrong assessment
A delivery outside the sector caused by an error by the Olympic champion, since when the Sardinian stretched out his hand, the man from Desenzano hesitated to place the stick on his teammate’s palm. A risk that the Garda native took to extend his fraction as much as possible, but which did not bear fruit. «Unfortunately I wasn’t able to lower the baton quickly and that waste of time took us out of the sector. The mistake is mine, not Lollo’s, but better to have done it now than in the future. It’s part of the game,” the policeman admitted.
Better that the patatrac happened in an irrelevant race, since the mission of the specialty world championship it was the presentation of Olympic passes, not medals. The Italian sprinters had closed the practice on Saturday night, so they could take a risk to attempt the big shot, which however failed. In fact, at the finish line Italy was third in 38″13, just a hundredth faster than the heat in which the changes had been smooth.
There is still a lot of work to be done on the speed of the individual components: the only one in very good shape appeared to be Patta, while Rigali, Jacobs and Tortu can do better.
As predicted, the Americans won (37″40) ahead of the Canadians (37″89), but it will be necessary to understand whether in addition to the first three of the Trials the States will also call the fourth, fifth and sixth of the 100 meters to the Nationals, or they will rely on common sense and bring in a couple of wingmen and some two hundred runners. Taken individually, the stars and stripes sprinters are superior to the blues, to beat them they will need to be messy and the Italians will be perfect: exactly what happened in Tokyo.
Street
It will be up to speed manager Filippo Di Mulo to understand how to progress the technical amalgam of the quartet. The immovable pawn is Jacobs in the second half, the longest, the one in which you can make a difference. Patta is a precious wild card for the corner sections: he can take the first (as in Tokyo) or the third (as in Budapest) always with a profit. The understanding between him and Jacobs is the key. It’s good that the mistake happened now, so we can reflect on it and avoid it in the future.
Tortu must grow, because on the final line we need his lightning-thrust to hope for great things: his ability to receive the baton and launch like a rocket make him a starter. There is only one vacant position: the Camuno Rigali will have to deal with Simonelli, Ali, Ceccarelli and Desalu, if the Olympian shows signs of growth.
Other races
Meanwhile, Italy has qualified for the Games also the women’s 4×100 and the two gender 4×400. Red mark instead for the mixed 4×400 – in the repechage without Alessandra Bonora from Brescia – who will now have to move up from the ranking.
