After signing a spectacular double with Marcell Jacobs and Chituru Ali in the 100 meters at the European Championships 2024 in athletics, it is inevitable ialready start thinking about the 4×100 who will award the medals at the end of the continental event on Wednesday evening. The DT Antonio La Torre and the head of speed Filippo Di Mulo will have to decide what to do in the next few hours, probably after having also seen what will happen on the half lap of the track.
There is no shortage of doubts about the Italy team that will look for the coup at the Olympic Stadium in Rome. Marcell Jacobs triumphed with 10.02 and seems to be improving greatly, but the Olympic Champion grimaced in pain after crossing the finish line and said he had suffered cramps from the double race: “A bit of fatigue in the calves, but it’s okay. It’s the first time this year that I’ve done two races close together and the time had to come. Around 80 meters I felt my calf starting to close a little and in my opinion I lost a bit of speed there.”
The hope is that the Messiah of Italian athletics can also be part of the relay race and that he can carry the group along, as he did at the Tokyo 2020 Games and also last year at the World Championships. Chituru Ali is a luxury not to be wasted after the silver she won in 10.05, the man from Como is in sensational form and depriving himself of a talent of this caliber would be criminal, even if he has practically never tried his hand at substitutions this season. In fact the student of Claudio Licciardello he is not among those called up for the 4x100m and is not on the European Athletics start-listbut we will see if the situation changes in the next few hours.
Clearly the inclusion of Ali would entail a clear review of the formation, because he would be deployed in the fourth fraction and so it would go moved Filippo Tortu, whose form will be to be seen this evening in the 200 meters semi-final (with the hope of also admiring him tomorrow in the final act). Is a change too risky on the eve of the big event? But for the Paris 2024 Olympics it will necessarily be necessary to study it.
In the case of a traditional lineup then Tortu at closer, with Lorenzo Patta at third and Roberto Rigali at pitch? It would be the team capable of winning the championship silver, but it is not necessarily the best because Matteo Melluzzo showed great efficiency (unofficial 10.12 in the semi-final) and because Patta suffered a problem in Savona in mid-May. Without forgetting the fact that we would have a phenomenon like Lorenzo Simonelli, fresh from triumphing over the 110 hurdles with 13.05 and in heavenly form. Several puzzles to be solved in the next few hours in view of the heats on Tuesday 11 June.
