A 2024 edition of the Griffin Meeting particularly intriguing is the one that will be staged on Thursday 23 May in Asti, the new location of the event after Castiglione della Pescaia and Grosseto. With just over two weeks left until the start of the European Championships in Rome (7-12 June), several top Italian athletes want to test themselves in competition with the aim of arriving in good condition for the first major event of the season.
Special observation Leonardo Fabbri, new Italian record holder and seasonal world leader in the shot put after the sensational 22.95 in Savona. The Tuscan, 2023 world silver medalist, is flirting with the 23-metre ribbon and perhaps he could even surpass that fateful threshold in Asti to send an even stronger signal to his direct opponents in view of the Paris Olympics.
The long-awaited Filippo Tortu withdrew in the 100m, having given up to concentrate on training in view of the continental event, so the blue scene will be all for the seasonal debut on the distance of the 2023 European indoor 60m champion Samuele Ceccarelli. All eyes also on the 800 in which Catalin Tecuceanufresh from his personal best of 1:44.22 achieved last Saturday in Chorzow, will face among others the reigning Kenyan Olympic silver medalist Ferguson Rotich and the young Italian Francesco Pernici.
Also scheduled for this year’s Grifone Meeting is the 2022 world bronze women’s high jump Elena Vallortigara, as well as the 5000 meters with Federica Del Buono and the 400 with Giancarla Trevisan and Brayan Lopez. Finally registered are Filippo Randazzo in the long run, Mohad Abdikadar in the 1500m, Sonia Malavisi and the European U20 champion Simone Bertelli in the auction.
