BIRMINGHAM – Whatever the outcome of the women's 800m final at the European Championships in Birmingham Eloisa Coiro, who qualified for the event by finishing second in her heat, wrote a historic page in Italian athletics by beating a record that had stood for 46 years and belonged to Gabriella Dorio. The time result of Coiro It was 1:57.56, a tenth less than Gabriella Dorio's best of 1:57.66, set in Pisa on July 5, 1980. The 25-year-old Roman ran a tactically intelligent race, making up two places on the straight to finish in second place, hot on the heels of British Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson, who preceded her in 1:57.28. It was the longest-standing Italian women's record, and so in the space of just over a month, both 800-meter records were broken, following Francesco Pernici's men's record (1:43.60 to surpass Marcello Fiasconaro's after 53 years).
Eloisa Coiro She had already improved this year with 1:58.42, becoming the second fastest Italian ever. In Birmingham, she excelled with a powerful finish, surpassing Germany's Smilla Kolbe (1:57.80) and Switzerland's Veronica Vancardo (1:58.20). August 11th also marked Gabriella Dorio's Olympic triumph in the 1500m at the 1984 Los Angeles Games. Dorio congratulated the new record holder on social media, sharing the image posted on the Atletica Italiana Instagram page: "Well done Eloisa, today, August 11th, is an important day for me! Here's to the Olympic gold and the 800m record!".
“"Gabriella Dorio has always been an inspiration to me, a great athlete and a fantastic woman. My heart goes out to her," said the Fiamme Azzurre representative. "She means a lot to me, and I've been looking for it for a long time, but today I didn't watch the pace, so I was completely surprised at the end of the race. I felt great, and now I don't set any limits. The level is incredibly high in Europe, we need to exploit it. We're competitive, but we're very united.".
