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| Italian high jump star Andrew surprised many by clocking a personal best of 45.70 for the 400m at 9th Graziano Della Valle last weekend. |
Italy’s 2006 European Athletics Championships long jump gold medallist Andrew Howe raised a lot of eyebrows across Europe when he started his year by winning the 400m in a personal best of 45.70 at the 9th Graziano Della Valle meeting on Sunday.
It was also the fastest time by a European runner at this early stage in the season and Howe promised after his outing that we will see a lot more of him on the track this summer.
“The long jump remains my priority but I have planned some sprint races in the early part of the season. I am confident it will be a great season for me, as in 2006. I can improve my 200m best (of 20.28) set in 2004 when I won at the World Junior Championships in Grosseto. I narrowly missed it last September in Milan when I clocked 20.30,” said Howe, who trained in Qatar during January and then California at the UCLA university during the winter.
“Over the first 200m (on Sunday) I didn’t push too hard but then I sped up and over the last 100m, well you just give everything. I’m just happy to have survived to the end and given the fact that it was a hot day and this is not my race, I did what I hoped for. All I wanted to do was improve my best, even if it was only by one-hundredth,” reflected the 25-year-old after his first 400m race in almost five years.
The 2004 World Junior Championships 200m and long jump gold medallist’s previous best over one lap of the track was 46.03 from 2006.
“This is just the beginning of the season and now I’m confident and fit for both the 200m and long jump. I also want to compete for the national team in the relays,” added Howe, suggesting that he would like to be part of the Italian squad that will contest the SPAR European Team Championships in Stockholm on 18-19 June.
Howe had almost two full years of injuries during 2008 and 2009, struggling in particular with his Achilles tendons which required surgery, and he was unable to contribute to Italy’s efforts at either the 2009 and 2010 SPAR European Team Championships.
However, he suggested later last summer that most of those problems were starting to be behind him when he finished fifth in the defence of his European title in Barcelona.
He is likely to make his 2011 long debut at the Coppa Italia in Florence on 4-5 June.