Tortu: “I'll run on 100 and 200. The rivalry with Jacobs? Sporty, as it should be "

"I feel more of a sprinter, but my goal is to carry on a double distance season, 100 and 200, and I hope next year is the right one".

Filippo Tortu talks about himself a few weeks after the historic gold in the 4x100 relay at the Tokyo Olympics and seven days after the great performance in the 200 in Nairobi (20 "11, second Italian time ever after Mennea):" I went to Nairobi because I wanted to turn the page , close the Olympic chapter and think about the next season already - explains the sprinter from Brianza of Sardinian origins to Extratime on Radio1 Rai -. Now I take a rest period, but after 52 uninterrupted weeks of training it will be strange to have empty days and I think that I will interrupt the holidays earlier than expected to return to training for next year ".

"The Tokyo 4x100 relay gave me the most beautiful emotions of my life. It made me realize how fast I can run and also helped me run the 200 meters that I had not prepared perfectly this year. made in Nairobi surprised me too, "he revealed.

As for the alleged heated rivalry with Marcell Jacobs , also champion of the 100 meters: "After the Olympics I discovered in the newspapers a lot of things about me that I didn't know ... With Jacobs there is rivalry on a sporting level as it should be, as there is also with the other boys of the relay. The rivalry on the track would be strange if it were not there, because all four of us train all year to try to win, but this does not exclude a friendship that is to be years: we run together from 2018-2019 ".

"What I did in the relay race in Tokyo I could also do during the season in the individual races, but I couldn't get it out - he continues - I think there is a magic component, I don't know how to explain it otherwise. In the previous days we didn't expect to win. , but on the day of the race we knew we could do it. Before entering the track there was the presentation of each relay and each team did some sort of choreography. We looked at each other and decided not to do anything. ballet - we said to ourselves - and we're going to win. Let's go in and win! "
On the future Games, in three years in Paris: "It will be very difficult to repeat ourselves, but even in Tokyo I thought it was almost impossible to win while it actually happened. It would be crazy to set limits and think that it can't happen again." So? , but not impossible ".

(Unioneonline / D)