His name in the history of athletics, Francesco Pernici, is already written. Credit goes to that 1:43.60 he ran in Nancy over 800 metres, which earned him the new Italian record over the distance, taking it from the hands of Marcello Fiasconaro. A record that had stood since 1973 and that now belongs to the young man from Brescia, born in Esine in 2003, who is ready to look ahead after having written an indelible page not only in athletics, but in Italian sport as a whole. "Now I've realised what I've done. But that was only the first step towards an important season. The European Championships are coming up soon, and that will be the event where I need to be at my peak to achieve something great," Pernici said over the phone to ANSA, reaffirming that his gaze is already fixed on the future and that the best, for the Italian athlete, is yet to come.
At the European Championships in Birmingham, scheduled from 10 to 16 August, Pernici arrives not only as one of the favourites, but with a clear goal already in mind: "definitely to win a medal. Obviously we'll need to take it round by round, but once I reach the final, the objective will be to win that medal I haven't managed to get yet in the Italian shirt. It's one of my many goals," adds the middle-distance runner. Pernici's career has been studded with records: first the Italian junior 800 metres record taken from Davide Cadoni, which had stood for almost 31 years; then the best Italian U23 performance, surpassing Donato Sabia after 41 years; right up to Fiasconaro's record, which had lasted 53 years.
Because of this too, when asked whether he considers himself "destined for greatness," Pernici answers without hesitation: "Yes. But not in the sense of someone who's full of themselves. Even in the past, whenever someone came close to touching that record, I always thought it hadn't happened by chance. But that it had happened because I was the one destined to break it. In the end I did it and I'm very happy about that," Pernici continues, aware of his own abilities and ready now to collect not just records, but medals too. And while the nearest goal is the European Championships in Birmingham, there is also room in the Italian athlete's mind to dream big.
"The Olympics are something I'm already thinking about. We'll need to take it race by race to get there, but obviously in my head it's a goal that's there. And even then, the ambition, however difficult, will be to try to go for a medal. It's one of my dreams," Pernici concludes. Because, after sowing records and carving his name into history, the time has come for the Italian athlete to start collecting medals.
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