With the fifth best time (38"07) the Italians Tortu, Jacobs, Melluzzo and Desalu reach the final of the 4x100 relay thanks to the repechage.
The quartet chosen by coach Di Mulo after the Olympic gold in Tokyo took to the track in the first heat: 10"34 for Melluzzo from the blocks, 9"21 for Jacobs, 9"35 for Desalu, 9"17 for Tortu. In the first semi-final, the Azzurri finished in fifth place (only the top three qualified directly, plus the two best times from the two semi-finals) . The second semi-final, however, was slower and therefore Italy managed to qualify with the second and final time recovered.
The final is scheduled for tomorrow at 7.47pm: the USA (first with 37"47), Great Britain, South Africa, Japan, China, France and Canada also qualified.
«Tomorrow will be another match – the words of a confident Jacobs – The important thing is to have reached the final». «The exchange with Marcel was crushed», commented Desalu, third member of the Italian relay team. «We're in, we'll play it tomorrow», is the analysis of Matteo Melluzzo, author of a decent first half. Filippo Tortu also sees it this way: « We played a sufficient match for the final but not for our ambitions . Tomorrow we will have the second lane and it will be difficult to compete but we never give up."
(Unioneonline)
