Drawn duel at the Rome sprint festival before the European team championships in Spain. Desalu in a photo finish, victory in the 100 meters eludes him by just three thousandths

Fausto Deslu continues to grow. After a period not in top form, the Lombard has started the season in the best possible way. First he collected two successes in his two outings in the 200 meters, always his specialty, and then he also performed well in the 100. Desalu, former Olympic gold medalist in the 4x100 in Tokyo, crossed the finish line in 10.25 at the Sprint Festival in Rome, like Lorenzo Patta who preceded him by three thousandths. The time is a good indicator of form since it is only four hundredths from the personal best. "I feel very good - he recently said -. I enter the race with the aim of having fun and improving my seasonal best. I don't set limits for myself and the goal is to show up in Tokyo as a protagonist".

In September, in fact, the World Championships will be held on the track where everything happened four years ago (September 13-21). Before that, Sebastian Bacchieri's student will be busy next weekend in Madrid for the European Team Championships, then on August 2 and 3 at the Italian Absolute Championships in Caorle. At the moment, to be honest, especially in Lombardy, Desalu seems to be the fittest of the quartet, considering that Marcell Jacobs is reprogramming his season after the disappointing exit in Turku (Finland) and Filippo Tortu has not yet shone. Meanwhile, among the women, but in the 400, we should mention the performance of Virginia Troiani, athlete of CUS Pro Patria Milano. At the Atleticageneve Meeting, in Geneva, Switzerland, she ran 51.06, second in the Italian Absolute all-time rankings.

Giuliana Lorenzo