Philip Tortu he is one of those who faces defeat without looking for excuses: “if we refer to the silver relay at the last Hungarian World Championships I don’t agree, a second place at the World Championships cannot be a disappointment when until 2020 we were not not even on the radar of other countries”, he explains to “The reason”. “I consider it an epochal result to put everyone behind us except the United States, in line with the medal won at the Tokyo Olympics.”
However, the reference was to the missed 200 meters final at the European Championships last August: “it left a bad taste in my mouth and quite a lot. There was more than one mistake on my part in my approach to the race and in the last year I worked a lot not to fall back into it. We’ll see from the first competitions of the new season whether I managed to leave the waste behind, but it will certainly be like this”, promises Tortu.
“This year will be fundamental, full of very important events for which I want to present myself to the best of my ability. I made this choice together with my coach, we believe that training with competitors who are stronger than me can give me new stimuli that are more suitable for competitions. Competing yourself with others is important and I no longer want this to be limited to competitions”, explains the 25-year-old Milanese sprinter to La Ragione. His determination really suggests that the second part of his career is at a turning point: “if you always do the same things you can never be better than you are, hence the need to create new obstacles and difficulties to try to come out stronger. Training with better athletes and trying day after day to get closer to them is an indication of the desire to improve. There will come a day when I will realize that I have put all my opponents behind my back.”
Finally, the objectives. Lined up without preferences, without hiding: “at the European Championships I want the medal. It doesn’t matter what time, going under 20 seconds in the 200 meters is fine everywhere, but at the Olympics I’m aiming for the final and the podium. In Tokyo we gave a signal , we confirmed it in Budapest: now as a relay team we are one of the teams to beat”, concludes Tortu.
