message from mzungo

via kimbia.net

This summer, 25-year-old Daniele Meucci took 10,000m bronze at the European Championships in Barcelona, a big surprise medal for Italy. Diego Sampaolo interviewed the Italian athlete for a piece on the IAAF.org website, and found that our own Chris Solinsky has spurred self-belief in runners the world over:

This year non-African long distance runners on the track witnessed a resurgence mainly thanks to American rising star Chris Solinsky who dipped under 27 minutes in the 10,000 metres and clocked three sub-13 minute performances in the 5000m. [...]

‘Solinsky is not the only top runner who can run fast in the long distance races on the track because there are many fast runners emerging,’ Meucci said. ‘Americans showed that non-africans [sic] can emerge at world level.’

With a World Championship on the horizon in Summer 2011, it’s unlikely we’ll see Solinsky and Co. rolling fast time after fast time in the Diamond League this coming season. But a medal in Daegu would solidify that “world-level emergence,” for Chris and his teammates.