We are faced with a total prodigy, the phenomenon we were waiting for between the barriers, the great predestined talent to upset the tricolor universe (and not only) of the barriers. Lorenzo Simonelli. An absolute champion, crystalline, brilliant, bombastic, perky who consecrated himself in a memorable evening at the Olympic Stadium in Rometruly sending the capital’s public into raptures and being greeted by a thunderous roar when he won a overflowing gold medal in the 110 hurdles.
Lorenzo Simonelli triumphed forcefully with a stunning time of 13.05 (0.6 m/s tailwind): demolished by fifteen cents the Italian record who had scored an hour earlier in the semi-final (in turn an improvement on 13.21 from two weeks ago), best European performance of the seasonsecond world time of the year just two hundredths behind world lead of His Majesty Great Holloway, seventh man in history in the Old Continent (the European record is held by the British Colin Jackson with 12.91 now 31 years old). We are faced with a time trial that could be worth a medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, with the clear belief that the Lazio player has boundless margins for improvement and that he can truly make an entire nation dream.
The 22-year-old came out of the starting blocks forcefully (0.145 reaction time), dueled a bit with the Spaniard Enrique Llopis, but then halfway through the race he accelerated forcefully, started a graceful dance between the barriers, increased his pace, dismissed the Spaniard and took off towards the finish line. And to say that he has slightly touched some barriers, demonstrating that he can improve a lot.
Enormous joy arrives after the silver won in the 60 hurdles at the Indoor World Championships three months ago: on that occasion he entered a new dimension (only Holloway managed to do better), today he consecrated himself and was able to celebrate with his iconic exultation reminiscent of the protagonist of the famous manga One Piece.
The competition was sent home: Enrique Llopis second in 13.16 (personal), the Swiss Jason Joseph third (13.43), the Spanish Asier Martinez fourth (13.45, defending the title), the Belgian Michael Obasuyi sixth (13.46, until this morning held the European lead with 13.20). Ladies and gentlemen, we are faced with a total phenomenon and it is Italian.
