Mattia Furlani jumps a world U20 record in Savona (© Chiara Montesano)
A world U20 long jump record of 8.36m* by Mattia Furlani and a 22.95m shot put performance by Leonardo Fabbri were the standout results at the Savona International Meeting, a World Athletics Continental Tour Challenger event, on Wednesday (15).
Furlani soared a marginally wind-assisted 8.44m (2.2m/s) in Savona last year before jumping 8.34m indoors in Ancona in February, missing the world U20 record by a single centimetre.
But he has made history three months on, jumping 8.36m (1.4m/s) on his second attempt in Savona to add one centimetre to the previous world U20 record of 8.35m set by Russia’s Sergey Morgunov in 2012.
The Italian 19-year-old opened his campaign with a leap of 8.25m and decided to pass his remaining four attempts after breaking the record.
“Finally! I have been looking for this result for a long time and it means a lot,” Furlani told the Italian athletics federation. “It means that we are working well and on the right path, on the threshold of two very important events such as the European Championships in Rome and the Paris Olympics.”
Fabbri was another athlete to make a big statement ahead of the continental event on home soil and the Olympic Games in Paris.
The world silver medallist, who also claimed world indoor bronze in March, added 7cm to his shot put PB with a 22.95m throw that improved the almost 37-year-old Italian record of 22.91m set by Alessandro Andrei.
Fabbri surpassed 22 metres with four of his attempts, also throwing 22.67m, 22.47m and 22.45m before his record-breaking 22.95m in the final round.
As well as it being a world lead and an Italian record, Fabbri’s performance sees him replace Andrei at No.5 on the world all-time list behind only Ryan Crouser, Joe Kovacs, Randy Barnes and Ulf Timmermann.
💪 IL VIDEO DEL 22.95 DI FABBRI
— Atletica Italiana (@atleticaitalia) May 15, 2024
L’abbraccio più bello, quello tra Leonardo Fabbri e Paolo Dal Soglio! 22,95 a Savona nel peso, battuto Andrei dopo 37 anni, Leo diventa il quinto al mondo di ogni epoca, il secondo di sempre in Europa
🔴🎥 Atletica Italiana#atleticaitaliana pic.twitter.com/fU3cUiulG4
Another Italian record fell in the women’s 100m and it fell twice. First Zaynab Dosso clocked 11.12 (1.4m/s) in the heats to take 0.02 off the national record she had jointly held with Manuela Levorato, before the world indoor 60m bronze medallist improved again to 11.02 (0.9m/s) to win the final.
In the men’s 400m, Great Britain’s Charlie Dobson followed his strong mixed 4x400m performances at the World Athletics Relays Bahamas 24 with an individual season opener of 44.46 to improve his PB by more than half a second.
In the women’s race, Ireland’s Sharlene Mawdsley ran 51.43 to win just ahead of Great Britain’s world and Olympic 800m silver medallist Keely Hodgkinson, who ran a PB of 51.61 on her season debut.
Her compatriot Jeremiah Azu won the men’s 100m final in 10.08, while Jamaica’s Omar McLeod took the 110m hurdles in 13.37 and Britany Anderson won the 100m hurdles in 12.88.
*Subject to the usual ratification procedure
