Larissa Iapichino makes history and enters the elite of the world long jump.
At the Tricolori indoor in Ancona, the 18-year-old 'daughter of art' has achieved a feat that will remain engraved in the annals of athletics not only in Italy.
In fact, he won the national title astonishing, because with the measure of 6.91 he equaled the absolute Italian indoor record of his mother Fiona May who had obtained it in Valencia in 1998, when he won the indoor European Championships (at 28 years old).
"I'm amazed, it's all surreal: now Tokyo", says Larissa.
It is a crazy story, that of the little girl who advertised a chocolate with her mother Fiona in a famous commercial about fifteen years ago and who has now grown up and promises to emulate, if not better, the parent who inspired her, together with his father Gianni Iapichino, in choosing athletics among the many sports he practiced since elementary school.
Sport is rich in children of art, but champions who at the age of 18 reach and surpass those who gave them their genes, in a symbolic race through time, are truly rare.
The chromosomes are the right ones, and this is also demonstrated by the fact that the measurement obtained today by the Florentine girl from Borgo San Lorenzo is also the new record of the indoor world under 20, which improves by three centimeters what had resisted since 1983 and belonged to the phenomenal German Heike Drechsler, mother Fiona's great rival.
And again: no 'long-distance player' in the world in 2021 did better than the standard bearer of the Fiamme Gialle, who with today's performance also crowned the dream of going to the Tokyo Olympics.
Where, but it is better to say it in a low voice, Larissa could play a leading role despite her very young age: she will turn 19 in July, the same month in which the Games will begin.
"I still haven't realized what I did - comments Iapichino -, I'll do it calmly. When I saw 6.91 I said to myself that I had jumped like my mom, then I realized the rest. And now everything seems surreal to me, a I dream. And Tokyo is too, bringing home a standard size for the Games at 18 is not an everyday thing. I hope I can learn from the many champions I will face. I will take Tokyo as an experience, it will take some head work and experience. Breaking a Drechsler record is something that shocked me, she was one of the goddesses of the long jump, and I was blown away. I'm very excited. "
Today was a crazy race.
A worldwide emotion that leaves Ancona's Palaindoor speechless.
The Iapichino is unleashed on the fifth jump, with a space 6.91 which, at 18, is a performance that not even the two-time Olympic champion Drechsler had achieved at the same age.
But already from the first jumps it is clear that this Saturday of blue athletics would have turned into the afternoon of dreams.
Iapichino takes off at 6.68, after which he goes very long in the second round, but the judge's red flag goes up to signal the null.
All postponed.
On the third and fourth jump Larissa writes 6.75 twice, the exact same measure of two weeks ago on the Marche platform.
She snorts, she is not satisfied yet, she realizes she is one step away from something epochal.
And the wonder arrives: the run-up is fast, the batting board gives practically nothing and landing in the sand leaves a mark that is not far at seven meters, the measure of the world elite.
He explodes with joy when those magical three digits appear on the display, so desired: 6.91.
He runs to embrace the coach Gianni Cecconi and his father Gianni Iapichino, in ecstasy, like mother Fiona May who rejoices in the stands, happy to go crazy.
A star is born, which promises to shine for a long time.
