Italian middle distance runner Pietro Arese started a special season in the best possible way, setting an Italian 3000m indoor record of 7:38.42 in early February to improve a mark which had stood for 27 years.
And after finishing seventh in the 3000m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow in a race won by Brit Josh Kerr, Arese is now counting down the days to the start of the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships, which will be held at the Stadio Olimpico from 7-12 June.
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From Turin 2022 to Roma 2024
Arese knows all about competing, as well as winning, on home soil as he casts his mind back to the 2022 SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Turin where he ran the first leg of Italy's victorious team in the mixed relay.
"The 2022 European Cross Country Championships are a magical memory for me - coming from Turin - because winning a continental title just a few kilometres from home was really incredible. So I think it will be doubly magical to take part in the European Athletics Championships in Rome, the Eternal City,” said Arese.
A few days before his memorable performance in the 3000m in Metz, Arese had set an Italian indoor 1500m record of 3:37.03 in Padova, a mark which was later beaten by both Federico Riva (3:36.74) and Ossama Meslek (3:36.04 and 3:35.63) to underline the current strength in depth in the ranks of Italian middle distance running.
“Starting the season with all these records was amazing, not only for me, but for all the other guys in the Italian national team. It’s very inspiring, personally breaking Gennaro Di Napoli‘s historic record gave me a unique feeling. Now, with the European Athletics Championships coming up in Rome, I said to myself: “Why not try to break the 1500m outdoor record? That would be amazing.”
For posterity, that mark also stands to Di Napoli, who famously won the 3000m title at the 1993 and 1995 World Athletics Indoor Championships, at 3:32.78 and dates all the way back to 1990. Arese came close to this mark last year with 3:33.11 at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest.
Another famous Arese...with a link to Roma 2024
Arese is a surname that means a lot to Italian athletics. Franco Arese, former president of FIDAL and now chairman of Karhu, the official supplier of technical equipment to Roma 2024, won the European 1500m title in Helsinki in 1971.
“This is another sign of destiny. With Franco Arese we know each other and talk often, even though we are not related. It would be magical to emulate him and win gold in the Olympic Stadium,” admits Pietro.
This optimism also stems from the magical moment experienced by the Italian athletics team. “The atmosphere in the Italian team is very stimulating. I think this is the reason for the many positive results.
“The cohesion among the athletes and the fact that everyone appreciates the victories of the others is a fundamental help that allowed us, for example, to win the Silesia 2023 European Athletics Team Championships.
“I hope that the same spirit will help us to win more in June,” concludes Arese, who is now targeting a medal in Roma 2024 after finishing fourth in the 1500m at the Munich 2022 European Athletics Championships.
Roma 2024 LOC for European Athletics