The Meeting International Citta di Savona on Thursday (16), a European Athletics Outdoor Area Permit Meeting, will feature not only the best of Italy but also a smattering of European stars across the programme.
Fresh from setting a world leading mark of 13.44 on his outdoor season’s debut in Rieti, Great Britain’s reigning world indoor champion Andrew Pozzi could have his sights set on a faster time in his second 110m hurdles race of the season if the conditions allow.
Now based in Formia where he is training under the tutelage of Santiago Antunez, Pozzi will face a largely domestic field including his training partner Hassane Fofana and Lorenzo Perini.
Bulgaria’s 2012 European 100m champion Ivet Lalova-Collio will be racing for the first time since reaching the 200m final at the World Athletics Championships in Doha. Now 36 and targeting her fifth successive Olympics in Tokyo, Lalova-Collio will be contesting the 200m on her season’s debut tomorrow evening.
One of the most interesting head-to-heads on the programme pits reigning European U20 champion Larissa Iapichino from Italy against France’s two-time European outdoor champion Eloyse Lesueur in the long jump.
Italian athletes might have been subjected to particularly strict lockdown measures over the spring and early summer but Iapichino returned to competition in near lifetime best form at the start of the month with a 6.57m season’s debut in Verona.
From an Italian standpoint one of the highlights of the programme will be the 100m featuring Italian record-holder Filippo Tortu against Marcell Lamont Jacobs. This will be their first head-to-head of the season although Jacobs does have the faster season’s best - 10.21 to 10.28. International opposition comes from France’s Amaury Golitin, a 10.07 performer.
'I arrive very calm and serene for the race in Savona, I am determined to do much better than my debut of Rieti,” said Tortu, who finished fourth in the 100m at the 2018 European Championships in Berlin.
Fresh from clearing a European leading mark and lifetime best of 1.94m in Rieti last weekend, Erika Furlani faces strong domestic opposition in the high jump from Alessia Trost and Elena Vallortigara, both of whom have lifetime bests of 2.00m or higher.
Elsewhere, Davide Re makes his first 400m appearance having set PBs in the 100m and 200m in recent weeks and Luminosa Bogliolo will be targeting another sub-13 second performance in the 100m hurdles after clocking 12.93 twice in Rieti earlier this month.
Full entry lists and live results here.