On the evening in which the United States showed up at the 4×100 without Lyles due to Covid and making the wrong substitutions that cost him disqualification, the‘Italy fails to take advantage of the chance to confirm itself as Olympic champion or to climb onto the podium. The Azzurri finish fourthonce again, with a time of 37″68, behind Canada, first with 37″50 (same time as Jacobs&co in Tokyo), South Africa and Great Britain. Compared to the qualifications, Italy improved (ran in 38″07), but this was not enough for the four runners forced to abdicate after the Japanese laurels. The regret is great because Merluzzo was the third best in reaction time, then Jacobs ran in 8″96 (second fastest), Patta (preferred to Desalu) brushed the curve in 9″12 with the first time of the fraction and Tortu closed in 9″20. The sprinter from Turin, coming out on the final straight, had given the impression of being able to emulate the acceleration of Tokyo, only to then finish with the seventh fraction, being caught up by South Africa and Great Britain for the final mockery and the time of 37″68 which three years ago would have been worth the bronze given that Canada finished third in 37″70.
“We gave it our all, we wanted to confirm ourselves and I think it was within our reach – said Tortu -. In these years we have lived together, fought and sacrificed a lot to dream and try to get this medal. There is a lot of bitterness”. Then on his last fraction he can’t hold back the tears: “It is never an easy task, just as it is not easy to run in first, second or third gear.. Then there are individual events that can stand out or not and mine was more subdued than that of my teammates. This makes me feel bad for them, but I gave it my all”. So the dream has faded for the relay runners, while Gianmarco Tamberi, tomorrow in the high jump final, continues to dream. “It will be the race of my life”, the reigning Olympic champion wrote on social media on the eve of the event. “Here we are – he added -. All for one day… All for this moment… I have fire inside and I can’t wait to explode tomorrow”. Gimbo is trying to get going like this after weeks of preparation that were complicated first by a myofascial injury from which he had recovered, only to then stop last week due to a kidney stone. A problem that forced him to postpone his arrival in Paris by a day, but did not prevent him from qualifying with a measure of 2.24. For the Olympic gold, however, much more will be needed than the Gimbo seen on Wednesday at the Stade de France.