The Olympic gold makes its debut on Wednesday in Savona on the 100 meters and Tortu also warns: “I also want to run the 200 meters at the World Championships”
SASSARI. And so he starts from Savona, where it all began, exactly one year ago. Lorenzo Patta on Wednesday makes his seasonal debut outdoors on 100 meters at the Ottolia Memorial in Savona. On the same runway in Fontanassa where last year (it was May 13) he took off with 10 ” 13, his personal one. A super time that opened the doors of the Olympics to him at the age of 21 and gave him the golden relay. Lorenzo was one of the Fantastic Four: Patta-Jacobs-Desalu-Tortu. Nine months ago, it seems like an eternity has passed.
Lorenzo, it’s time to get back to racing. On Wednesday in Savona there will also be Jacobs and Desalu, from team mates to rivals, on the 100-meter blocks. Ready for the challenge?
«Very ready, I missed the track and the adrenaline of the race. After Tokyo, with Jacobs, Tortu and Desalu we met again in March, in Rome, for the national team meeting, it was nice to meet again. But in Savona we will be against each other: I will not give discounts to either of us ».
Goals for this season?
«2022 is the most important year for my career, I’ll have all eyes on me. The objectives? Qualify on the 100 and 200 meters at the Eugene World Championships in July and then win the relay again. It will be tough. The race in Savona will be important to rediscover the sensations, the fluidity of the race ».
On the 200 Tortu he has already qualified for the World Cup: 20”11 his new personal best.
“I’ll be there in Eugene, I promise. I’ve always enjoyed half a lap of the track, I express myself better in the corners. With coach Garau we have worked very well in recent months. The last time I did the 200 meters was at the Junior World Championships in 2018: my personal 21”08. Then, between injuries and a pandemic, I never had the opportunity to try again. Now I can’t wait to test myself, I want to go below 20 ”. Tortu is warned ».
You are already qualified for the 4×100. Never change a winning team?
«It is not taken for granted that the formation that will compete at the World Championships in the United States and at the European Championships in Munich will be the same as in Tokyo. The coach of the national team Filippo Di Mulo will decide who to deploy and how to deploy. The four fastest will run, but the change will also count. Obviously I will do everything to be part of the Fantastic Four again, it almost seems like a football team ».
Here is football, she comes from that world, she played with La Palma-Monte Urpinu. How did it end in Tokyo?
“It all started at school, in Oristano. I did well at the student games and my physical education teacher from the Mariano IV high school, Marco Meletti, referred me to my technician Francesco Garau. Basically they forced me to try, I was skeptical. It was hard to leave football, my passion. At first I played football until May, then athletics in the summer. When the first victories in the junior championship came, I had to choose. But I always follow football. I’m a big fan of Roma (their supreme idol is Falcao), but I also follow Cagliari, I hope they stay in Serie A ».
An Olympic champion who decides to stay and live in Sardinia, in Oristano, at his home.
«At home with my parents I feel great and then I would never have left my coach, I trust him blindly. The only gripe is the track, the works are late and hopefully it will not be available before July. We have the Marrubiu field but the conditions are not optimal ».
She is physically light years away from the muscular bodies of American sprinters like Kerley, more like Jacobs.
«Garau tells me that I have to stay light if I want to go far, maximum 60 kilos (he is 1.73 tall). In Tokyo on the track those titans scared me, but it was only a moment. Garau’s training method? Six workouts a week, of 2/3 hours each, plus a little work in the gym, with very little weights, nothing exceptional. On Sunday I rest ».
How has your life changed after the Tokyo gold medal?
“It has remained the same. I only have an Olympic medal, which I jealously keep in a closed triple-way drawer, given what happened in Tortu (the thieves entered Filippo’s house to steal it but he had deposited it in the bank, ed). And I have a brand new Audi TT, the only whim I took off with the Coni prize. The rest is in my checking account. Even the girlfriend has remained the same, Mara forever ».