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Larissa Lapichino won the long jump silver medal at the 2023 European Indoor Championships, soaring to an Italian record of 6.97m. She has now revealed who her strongest competitors are ahead of the World Championships in Budapest.
The women's long jump event has a positive outlook of being one of the most competitive events this season, especially after the impressive performances at the 2023 European Indoor Championships in Istanbul, which produced two surprise top two finishers.
Larissa Lapichino won the silver medal in an Italian indoor record of 6.97m, behind Great Britain's Jazmin Sawyers, who produced the best performance of her career with a massive British Record of 7.00m.
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Lapichino's success in Istanbul has given her more confidence in her abilities, as she's now more aware of her place in international athletics as one of the best jumpers in the world.
The 20-year-old now believes she can go over 7m and improve on her mother's outdoor record of 7.11m, an achievement which will require her to defeat the top best jumpers in the world, who she sees as her strongest opponents.
"Jazmin Sawyers triumphed today with 7.00m, Malaika Mihambo, Ivana Spanovic, Brittney Reese, Ese Brume, and Leticia Oro Melo, the Ukrainian Maryna Bech-Romanchuk and the Swedish Khaddi Sagnia are very fearsome," Lapichino said in an interview with OA Sport Italia.
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Lapichino can surely dream big and fancy her chances at the World Championships in Budapest, where she believes a place on the podium isn't far-fetched.
From teenage sensation to world recognition
Lapichino soared to world prominence as a teenager on February 20, 2021, leaping to a distance of 6.91m in Ancona.
Her mark equalled her mother, Fiona May's Italian Record (IR), and became a new World U20 Record.
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A few weeks later, she was fifth at the European Indoor Championships - her first senior international outing, having triumphed at the European U20 Championships in 2019.
Sadly, her young budding career experienced a setback, which boiled down to leaving her historic coach Gianni Cecconi and relying on her father Gianni Lapichino, plus a lingering injury that stopped her Olympic dream to Tokyo.
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In 2022, she was fifth at the European Outdoor Championships (6.62m), tenth at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade (6.57m), and eliminated in the qualifying stage at the World Championships in Oregon (6.60m). These are decent marks for a 19-year-old, but still far from the huge potential she has got.
This season, Lapichino is back to her best as her preparations haven't suffered any hitches, opening her season with a distance of 6.72m and taking a worthy second-place finish at the ISTAF in Berlin behind World and Olympic Champion Malaika Mihambo.
Her outstanding performance in Istanbul is just the beginning of what she's capable of achieving in Budapest and the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
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