Larissa Lapichino, who won the silver medal at the 2023 European Indoor Championships, identified Ese Brume, a Nigerian jumper who won the silver medal at the World Championships, as the athlete she most fears.
The 20-year-old Italian jumper started her season off strong by setting a record in the recently finished European Indoor Championships, which were held in Istanbul from March 2 to 5.
Lapichino finished in second place against 28-year-old British Jazmin Sawyers, who turned in her finest career effort with a huge British Record of 7.00m.
The European U-20 champion declared shortly after the competition that she needed to better her outdoor time in order to compete against the world’s top jumpers, including Brume, the Commonwealth champion and 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics bronze medalist; Malaika Mihambo, Ivana Spanovic and Brittney Reese.
Speaking in an interview with OA sport Italia Lapichino said, “Jazmin Sawyers triumphed 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.”
At the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, the 27-year-old Brume won gold in the women’s long jump competition and set a new competition record.
With jumps of 6.91 meters at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha and 6.97 meters at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Brume also earned the bronze medal in the long jump event at both of those competitions.
She broke the record for the first African woman to jump four valid marks over seven meters in 2022.
