Jacobs and Ceccarelli do not try Corriere.it

Ninety-one hundredths of a second to cover the 10 meters before the transition area, only 30 for the passing of the baton between Desalu and Tortu, 2”88 in the 30m corner transition. The three photocells placed on the Paolo Rosi slope at Acquacetosa on a hot March afternoon recorded excellent numbers. But Philip Di Mulothe professor from Catania who shaped the 4x100m relay of the Olympic miracle "working on over 150 changes", is depressed: "Tokyo is the past - says the coach of the blue speed bitterly -, the future is a World Cup where we risk not qualifying" . The Budapest goal with which Fidal announced the first meeting of the blue 4x100 is a difficult goal: out of the world final in Eugene, we have only three races to find that 38"30/38"40 that is needed to enter among the 8 nations drawn, challenging Germany , Poland, Holland, Nigeria, Switzerland and others.

One of the reasons for which the qualification is (sensaously) at risk is engaged in stretching exercises in the corner of the field opposite to the one where the teammates try the substitutions. Wore the blue shirt for the usual photos on the first of the 5 days of the meeting, Marcell Jacobs he immediately replaced it with the black one of his personal sponsor. Jacobs and his staff communicated that they would not participate in the dynamic shift tests and neither in the qualifiers in Florence (May 7) and Paris (June 9). The last test in the European Cup in Poland (June 25) is also in doubt because Jacobs has a program in which individual races are top priority. «My job is to work on the changes – explains Di Mulo – and motivate the athletes to try as many as possible because this is the only way to win. But when a sprinter becomes a star, I have very little power to persuade him to join us."

The Tokyo relay, at the moment, is Captain Tortu accompanied by Desalu and Patta who in 2022, alas, did not shine. In another corner of the track, pampered by coach Del Medico, there is the hero of the 60 meters of Istanbul, that Samuele Ceccarelli who Di Mulo immediately summoned to integrate him into the group. Even the European champion, like Jacobs, however, has given up trying the gearboxes: the efforts of the continental triumph have exhausted him. He may reconsider at the end of April rally, but his presence in the relay is unlikely for other reasons. «Samuele is worth 10” net or less over the 100 meters – explains Di Mulo – but he has no specific experience. I was thinking of him for the first fraction, the shortest and most suitable for a 60-year-old: there is only one passing of the baton. But he doesn't want to run in corners due to muscle problems and I certainly can't field him on the 125 meters of the second, with two very delicate substitutions».

With a hypothetical Jacobs, an unlikely Ceccarelli and against very aggressive nations we must hope for the reserves: poor Ali, the most gifted, we are counting on the progress of Melluzzo, Federici and Rigali. Last year the goal was to challenge the USA and Jamaica, this year, at the moment, to participate.