The young gazelle of Italian athletics

Italy finally has a female athlete to play on at the next world championships in Torun from 4 to 7 March, a promised star of world sport who has shown her skills in recent performances in Ancona, her name is Larissa Iapichino. Just 18 years old, Larissa showed a great physical shape, the result of hard training and many sacrifices in her teenage life, and made the long indoor jump of 6.91 meters, equaling the record of her mother, as well as champion of ' long jump track and field Fiona May.

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Her particularly powerful and agile physicality allows her to constantly jump measures that are not easy to maintain even in the same race, thanks to the DNA transmitted by her mother Fiona, multiple award-winning world and Olympic champion, to which is added a strong personality and determination of blue champion. In 2019 Larissa conquers the title of European Under 20 champion in Sweden with a jump of 6.58 m outdoors while her recent outdoor record is 6.81 m. Outdoor events are usually less performing as there are weather factors that affect performance such as wind, humidity or other. In indoor competitions, however, all these external factors are excluded and athletes can measure their physical performance to the fullest, without being distracted by nature so to speak.

Larissa is a great example for the many young people who want to pursue a sports career despite their young age. Without hard workouts and days spent in the gym, such results are not obtained. In my opinion, being the daughter of a champion like Fiona May involves more responsibilities than advantages: competing knowing that you have to match your parent's records can be a burden that irreversibly affects your performance. This is what people out there expect and beyond the class you need a strong personality to focus on your goal.

Larissa is a girl like any other, she loves social media and exploits her athletic body on social profiles with a large number of followers. But her beauty is one side of her life as a teenager, in her sporting life it is the exact opposite: she wakes up early in the morning, long hours of sessions in the gym, strict diet. It's not as simple as you might think. Success is the tip of the iceberg of the work done. This is why being the daughter of a champion is much more difficult.

There are really high expectations for the Italian champion in the upcoming world championships and especially at the next Olympics where she will try to beat her mother Fiona's record here, she has never gone beyond the silver medal. On her side she has the young age, the determination, the desire and the experience and support of a parent who knows well how to manage and deal with certain situations. Larissa Iapichino is the hope for the future of Italian athletics and for that of potential thousands of young people who will want to imitate it in search of a sporting as well as personal redemption