Who is Samuele Ceccarelli, the new 60m European champion ahead of Jacobs

In the two times they’ve faced each other this season, Samuel Ceccarelli he always beat Marcell Jacobs. It had already happened in mid-February at the Assoluti indoor in Ancona. He has now happened again at the European Championships. The 60 meters, the fastest race in athletics, are the brand new territory conquered by the 23-year-old from Massa, back from three years of injuries that had delayed his growth. Now, physically and mentally fit, Ceccarelli has exploded: his personal best has dropped from 6″81 to 6″47, a sensational improvement that brought him within 6 cents of the European record, held by Jacobs himself, of which he has become the alter ego. Member of the Florence MarathonCeccarelli is the best in the European lists of 2023. A background in karate, left at the age of 15 to devote himself full-time to speed, a fifth-year student in the master’s degree in law (he studies at the University of Pisa), Samuele trains with Marco Del Medico a Pietrasanta. In Istanbul he was making his debut for the senior national team, a fact that caused him to “lose” a lock of hair, cut to respect an all-blue ritual. He still has a rather high time on the 100m outdoors (10 ”40 windy in 2021), but he is in an excellent position to become one of the staples of the Italian relay team in the next international events, starting from the World Championships in Budapest in August.