The Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships are going to be held in my country and this is going to be the dream of a lifetime. Competing in front of the Italian spectators, doesn’t mind which kind of competition you are running for, it’s a great experience and I must be ready!! I am training very hard to catch this opportunity which should not be wasted. These are the words of the Italian Olympic Champion and world relay silver medallist, Filippo Tortu, who is now working towards the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships, scheduled from 7 to 12 June.
In the last edition held in Munich in 2022, Filippo Tortu won the bronze medal in 200 meters, bringing Italy back to the podium after 44 years, after Pietro Mennea.
“In Rome I want to do even better. I am aware that I am not the favourite in the 200 m., last year there were athletes who run much faster than me, nevertheless I will arrive at to the Olympic Stadium with the idea of playing my cards and trying to do my best and to win indeed. We are favourites in individual race and in the 4×100 relay. “It will be a bit different but equally beautiful”, says the Italian Athlete, projecting himself to the final that will conclude the programme of the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships on the evening of June 12. “I have imagined a thousand times”, Tortu adds, “I’m a bit superstitious and don’t want to say what I have thought: an important part of our profession must be to dream of what you intend to reach. What I am sure of is the attitude of the team: motivated and determined to win the medal we lack. The most important thing is the feeling and the willingness of the team, sharing the way before and after the race: in my opinion, this is the big difference between us and the rest of the world.”
“We cannot all run, everyone must be able to be lined up in any position, from first to fifth. Our strength is that we remain united and available to others, always helping each other. This ensures in a such compact group, even with changing players each time, the result remains the same.” Athletics and more. For Tortu, Rome holds a special meaning in his private life too. “It is a city that represents so much to me. In the past years, I used to go to Rome very often to train with the Military sports group of Fiamme Gialle, to attend the university and to take the opportunity to visit my relatives. I am very close to the Italian capital and by this chance, even more, because we gather with our relay teammates.”
After the Euros, the Olympics will follow. “Right now, my goal for the O.G. is to reach the final in the individual 200 m.I am training to go below 20 seconds, it is not simple, but I am trying to run 11 hundredths faster than I have managed so far. However, in the relay, the objective is to win a medal. It will be very difficult; there are several good teams, but we will arrive at the Olympic Games as defending champions, and we intend to win another medal” Filippo Tortu ends the interview.