A silver leap. Larissa Iapichino has transformed anger into serenity

Historical courses and appeals or rather those twists of fate that sport knows how to amplify. Fiona May, the blue jumper of English origin who has remained in the hearts of all Italians even as a television face, had filled with anger when she was deprived of the Olympic title in Atlanta ’96 by the Nigerian chatter Chioma Ajunwa who returned from a four-year disqualification for doping. An Olympic silver which was also repeated four years later in Sydney. Yesterday in Istanbul her daughter Larissa Iapichino, just 20 years old, took another silver at the European indoor championships in Istanbul in the same specialty but she transformed that anger into a contagious serenity. Now it’s up to her to chase the family Olympic gold medal. With a 6.97, behind the British Jazmin Sawyers, the daughter of art has renewed the threads with the story that was interrupted when two seasons ago, still as a junior, with 6.91 she had equaled the Italian record of mother Fiona and had also subtracted the world record in the category to the legendary Heike Drechsler, the East German who had beaten her mother in Sydney.

Two years and a change of coach later, passing unscathed through a tunnel of technical and mental readjustments, Larissa (name chosen by her mother in honor of her Ukrainian rival Berezhnaya) has recovered what was due to her with an incredible progression of jumps all in crescendo: 6.64, 6.74, 6.77, 6.75, 6.91 and 6.97. A continuous question and answer with the Serbian Ivana Spanovic-Vuleta and with the German Malaika Mihambo who, even for those who followed the race live on Rai 2, created moments of tension and anxiety, up to the happy ending of the silver medal . In Italy’s excellent balance (2 gold and 4 silver) Larissa’s was the icing on the cake. An unexpected event experienced by Larissa with seraphic calm while speculations about the winner Sawyer’s jump flourished around her, which at first glance (but not upon closer examination) had seemed less long than measured, that is seven meters. But Larissa was happy like this, proud of having equaled and then broken the Italian record in the dining room that mother Fiona had established by winning the same continental event in Valencia in 1998 and of having established the fourth world measure in 2023. The almost unexpected prize, after two difficult years, for his extended family with the father-coach Giovanni Iapichino, pole vaulter and decathlete who took part in two world championships, and the manager Silvia Saliti (who also has the new phenomenon Samuele Ceccarelli in her team, gold of the 60s ahead of Jacobs ) who were jumping for joy in the grandstands of the Atakoy Arena. In fact, it’s been a while since Larissa hasn’t been seen next to Larissa in the race, but apparently a new family balance was needed to put her in the best conditions to return to (and improve) the levels of when she was the enfant – Italian athletics prodigy: “Since last year I’ve been working to stabilize the run-up and this result is the result of a new basic speed on which I worked with my father” he explained, recognizing that even within the team blue for some years there is a new atmosphere.

It’s been a long time since little May had entered the homes (and hearts) of Italians with the advertising of snacks but Larissa continues to pierce the video even on the platform with a smile.