The Italy of athletics dreams of reliving in Oregon the glories of a year ago in Tokyo, when the Azzurri surprised the world by bringing home five golds. From Friday evening, at the Eugene World Championships, the spotlight will all be on Marcell Jacobs, who in Japan wore two gold medals (one individual on 100 meters and one team in the men’s 4×100 relay), but who in this 2022 had to struggle more with bad luck and ailments. In the United States, however, he arrives confident and fully recovered from the hamstring problems of the left leg that had forced him to forfeit in Stockholm, just a couple of weeks ago, in the Swedish appointment with the Diamond League. Likewise, his eyes are on Gianmarco Tamberi, Olympic gold medalist in the high jump and Italian champion in the absolute last June, albeit with some controversy over the heated final play-off with Marco Fassinotti.
Appointment postponed (due to Covid)
The two blue stars are looking for world champion glory on the track of the renovated Hayward Field in Eugene, renovated at the end of 2020 and inaugurated in April 2021, chosen as the location of the World Athletics Championships that should have been held a year ago, only to be postponed to cause of the Covid-19 pandemic. The works led to the installation of a transparent roof and the creation of a nine-storey tower, as well as the possibility of expanding the capacity from 12,900 to 30,000 spectators in the event of major events. An investment of over 270 million dollars (equal to about 230 million euros, at the exchange rate at the time), according to the financial reports of Oregon Athletics, financed entirely by private individuals in the form of a donation by Phit LLC (to the whose shoulders would be the founder of Nike, Phil Knight).
How much do athletes win
For athletes, the Eugene World Cup can be worth a maximum prize of 70 thousand euros for individual events. In fact, this is the amount of recognition for single gold medals, followed by other prizes for podium finishes ($ 35,000 for silver, $ 22,000 for bronze, up to $ 5,000 for those arriving eighth). As for the team events, the gold medals bring a total of 80 thousand euros to the whole team, while the silver is awarded with 40 thousand euros and the bronze with 20 thousand euros. In total, the total prize money is around 8.5 million euros, up from the 7.53 million dollars up for grabs in the Doha World Cup in 2019 (equal to around 6.7 million euros at the time). From the fines to the Russian federation for the violation of anti-doping rules, 2 million will be obtained to be distributed to athletes in the form of prizes both for this World Cup and for that of 2023 in Budapest.
Recognition for records
Anyone who manages to achieve a new world record in this competition will also be able to take advantage of an additional $ 100,000 prize offered by Tdk and World Athletics in the # WeGrowAthletics initiative. , Italian hours, the tricolor hopes are not pinned only on Jacobs and Tamberi, on track since the first day. The first will be Tamberi, together with Fassinotti, engaged in the qualifying round in the high jump. Jacobs, on the other hand, will make his debut in the 100m heats at 3:50 in the morning. We will have to wait until the night between Monday and Tuesday to see the other medalists from Tokyo on the track, namely Desalu and Tortu, protagonists in the Olympic Games in the 4x100m relay and engaged in the 200m heats in Oregon. Finally, for the march, the hunt for the world title for Stano will begin on 24 July at 15.15 in Italy, competing with the other blue Agrusti.