Matteo Melluzzo, Marcell Jacobs, Lorenzo Patta and Filippo Tortu. These are the names of the four Italian champions who won the gold medal for Italy on the last day of the European Athletics Championships. The Olympic Stadium accompanied with a roar the ride of the four sprinters, who passed the baton to each other without problems, finally handing it over to the last one in the team, the 25-year-old from Milan, who, due to his qualities, welcomed the silver in the 200 meters as a disappointment from two days ago. «There was an absurd roar, I couldn’t hear anything», says Tortu at the end of the race, «I was afraid of not hearing Lorenzo’s signal, I put my hand behind me and started». Italy snatched the most important medal by running the 4×100 relay in 37.83. The podium then closed with Holland and Germany. The Italian team had a magnificent European Championship, first in the medal table with 24 podiums, of which 11 gold, and also first in the points classification. An amazing success that now projects the Azzurri to the Olympics with great ambitions. «I said it after my medal, which I got on the second day», says Jacobs in the post-race interview, recalling the double with Ali in the 100 meters, «this team is strong, it’s ambitious, it wants to go to Paris each high.”
