This record had stood for over 40 years: it was March 1982, in Milan, and it bore the signature of a legend of the blue middle distance like Gabriella Dorio.
The Italian record of the indoor women's mile fell today in New York, thanks to an athlete on the rise like Sintayehu Vissa, who already wore the blue jersey at the World Championships in Oregon last season.
The Friulian athlete, who this year has chosen the path of professionalism with the On Athletic Club in the United States, signed the time trial of 4:28.71 at the Dr. Sander Columbia Challenge, improving the Italian record of Dorio by 19 cents (4:28.90) which has remained unchanged since March 10, 1982. Vissa finished the race in fourth place behind Alicia Monson (4:23.55), Whittni Morgan (4:23.97) and Katelyn Tuohy (4:24.26).
Registered in Italy with Atletica Brugnera Friulintagli, in 2020 'Sinta' flew overseas to Saint Leo University, Florida, and from 2021 she attended the Mississippi university to study as a social worker.
Last year she won the NCAA title in the 1500m and earned a call-up to the World Championships in Eugene by running 4:04.64, after also clocking up to 2:01.06 in the 800m.
"I'm happy with the record, knowing I beat a Gabriella Dorio's primacy has a nice effect - commented Vissa, now stationed in Boulder, Colorado - but I'm not totally satisfied with how the race went. Three laps from the end I was unable to react to the change of pace of the best.
However I will try to improve on the mile again, in two weeks at the Millrose Games, on February 11th, on this same track of the Armory Track: I think I'm worth a more substantial record and a time trial that is not far from the one done today by Alicia Monson , five seconds down.
After that I will return to Italy on February 12: time to recover from the jet-lag and I will be on the track at the indoor Assoluti in Ancona (February 18-19 ed) to play for a place in the 1500m at the European indoor championships in Istanbul.
There's a lot of competition, the middle-distance momentum is favorable for Italy but I want to show that I'm there too".
