100 days to Grosseto 2017
18 Aprile 2017The countdown to the continental event (20-23 July) has officially started with the presentation of the Italian team gathering in the main city of the Maremma region
Only 100 days to the Grosseto European Athletics Under 20 Championships. The countdown for the continental event, which will return to the “Zecchini” stadium from 20 to 23 July, starts today. The Italian team, currently in a stage in Grosseto, has been introduced to the local institutions of the city. The meeting took place in Palazzo della Provincia. Alfio Giomi, President of the Italian Athletics Federation, Antonfrancesco Vivarelli Colonna, the Mayor of Grosseto, Fabrizio Rossi, Grosseto’s Councilor for Sports and Stefano Baldini, Italian Athletics Federation’s Development Technical Director, attended the meeting. The 100m World U20 silver medalist Filippo Tortu, leaving for the IAAF/BTC World Relays Bahamas 2017, sent a video message to greet his teammates. Meanwhile, the Olympic athlete Ayomide Folorunso, a young special guest, who met in the afternoon the guys a couple of years younger than her, joined the supporters invading the historic city centre, with her usual irrepressible enthusiasm. Two t-shirts with the official event logo have been given to two European U18 champions: Desola Oki (Women’s 100 hurdles) and Alessandro Sibilio (Men’s 400 hurdles). More than 100 Italian young athletes exhibited a great banner in Dante Square with a special message for Jacopo, a 19-year-old athlete who suffered a bad injury during a pole vault training.
FIGURES – At the event, according to the preliminary entries, 1175 athletes from 47 different nations and 460 officials (managers and staff) are expected.
In preparation for the event, the Italian team is already getting used to the Grosseto sporting facilities. The Italian athletes selected for the stage from Wednesday 12 to Saturday 15 April are 115: 22 sprinters, 15 hurdlers, 28 jumpers, 8 combined events specialists, 19 middle-distance runners, 8 race walkers and 15 throwers.
THE MEETING – The Under 20 Italian Team – selected by Stefano Baldini with the assistant Tonino Andreozzi, the captain of the youth national teams Gabriella Dorio and the coaching staff, medical doctor and federal physiotherapist – is training at “Campo Zauli” and at “Carlo Zecchini” Stadium, which hosted football games during the Roma 1960 Olympic Games. In 2001 the stadium hosted the European Athletics Junior Championships and in 2004 the IAAF World Junior Championships. Grosseto, which hosted in 2015 the European Masters Championships Non Stadia and in 2016 the European Paralympic Championships, confirms itself as a landmark in the organization of athletics events.
HISTORY – It is the first time that the European U20 Championships are back in a city that has already hosted them. The European Athletics Council has given again the event to the Tuscan city at a meeting on June 12, 2015 in Oslo. The first edition was held in Paris in 1970 and Grosseto in 2017 will be the 24th, the third in Italy, four years after Rieti 2013. The best young talents in Europe who have not yet turned 20 (born from 1 January 1998 onwards) will be the stars in this exciting continental competition. Some of them have already gained the international spotlight, many others will do it soon.
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