Andy Diaz sets the Italian record in the triple jump: Fabrizio Donato’s size improved by 15 centimetres

At the Luigi Ridolfi stadium in Florence, al Golden Gala Pietro Mennea, comes immediately, in the first men’s race of the program, a historic Italian record. In the triple jump Andy Diaz flies at 17.75 (0.9 with favorable wind) improving by five centimeters the national outdoor limit of Fabrizio Donato, his current coach (17.60, Milan, 7 June 2000), a measure even higher than the Italian record indoor of 17.73 (again Donato, Paris, 6 March 2011). Díaz’s winning measure is the only one recorded by the Cuban-born athlete, with three nulls and two waivers in the third and fifth round of jumps. The jumper, a naturalized Italian and waiting to receive eligibility from World Athletics to compete with the Italian national team, also improved his previous personal record by 17.70 (Diamond League 2022 final in Zurich).

Andy Diaz, Italian for a month

Díaz Hernández made his debut as an Italian in the first stage of the circuit in Doha, on 5 May, second with a formidable windy 17.80. With today’s performance, Díaz set the European seasonal record, the third world measure in 2023 and the first Diamond League victory of an Italian treble jumper since the success of his mentor, the legend Fabrizio Donato, who won the Weltklasse of Zurich with 17, 29 on August 30, 2012.

Diaz, born in Havana on December 25, 1995, obtained Italian citizenship for “special merits”. The decision was taken on the proposal of the Minister of the Interior Matteo Piantedosi, in consideration of the activation of the procedure by Coni, which reported the triple jump athlete for the excellent results achieved in his sport. The granting of citizenship, as the Palazzo Chigi press release explains, is in accordance with the law which provides for its granting “to the foreigner when he has rendered eminent services to Italy, or when there is an exceptional interest of the State”.