Two-time European U23 cross country champion Nadia Battocletti set her first Italian senior record at the Meeting de l’Eure in Val-de-Reuil on Monday (14) evening, a World Indoor Tour Silver Meeting.
Battocletti finished second in the 3000m in 8:41.72 behind Ethiopia’s reigning world U20 800m champion Ayal Dagnachaw who won in a sprint finish in 8:41.32 on her debut at the distance.
Battocletti’s time was an outright lifetime best and she also shaved three seconds off the previous national indoor record of 8:44.81 which was set by Silvia Weissteiner at the 2007 European Indoor Championships in Birmingham.
Only two Italian athletes have ever run faster outdoors: former three-time European champion Agnese Possamai (8:37.96) and 1996 Olympic 5000m silver medallist Roberta Brunet (8:35.65).
Battocletti came within two seconds off Brunet’s Italian 5000m record at the Olympic Games in Tokyo where she was a surprise seventh and this performance confirms the 21-year-old remains on an upward curve.
“I knew I could run around 8:45 but it was not an easy race: after 500 metres, while I was passing by the pole vault, a pole entered the first lane and hit me on the knees. Nothing special, I didn't let myself go out of focus. I am very happy with the result, it means that we are working really well in view of the outdoor events of the season,” Battocletti told FIDAL after the race.
Also on the track, Elliot Giles won a tactical men’s 1500m in 3:40.24, utilising his 800m pace to kick away from Algeria’s Salim Keddar (3:40.85) and multiple European U23 champion Jimmy Gressier (3:40.94).
Other highlights on the track included world indoor silver medallist Jarret Eaton from the United States edging out Pascal Martinot-Lagarde in the 60m hurdles - 7.50 to 7.51 - and Uganda’s world champion Halimah Nakaayi proving a runaway winner in the 800m in a world leading 1:59.55.
Slovenia’s Tina Sutej won the pole vault on countback from Iryna Zhuk at 4.70m, Switzerland’s Loic Gasch cleared 2.25m in the high jump to win by nine centimetres and Enzo Hodebar won the triple jump with 16.68m.
Full results here.