By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University All-American pole-vaulter Virgi Scardanzan is already looking forward to the next Olympic Summer Games after a near miss in last weekend's Absolute Italian Championships.
Scardanzan finished a strong second in her country's national meet at Rovereto, Italy to put herself in a spot to represent Italy in the upcoming Tokyo Summer Games, but her second-place jump of 4.3 meters (14 feet, 1.25 inches) fell short of the minimum height of 4.7 meters to be able to compete in the Olympics.
Nevertheless, Scardanzan's performance left her nothing but upbeat looking ahead.
"It's an incredible sensation," Scardanzan said in a Zoom call with Topeka media Monday morning. "I've worked so hard for it this year and behind this year there are many years of dedication, passion and hard working. I want to say that this year has been an incredible year."
Washburn star pole-vaulter Virgi Scardanzan (second from left) is coming off a runner-up finish in the Italian Championships. Scardanzan will be honored as TopSports.news' 2021 WU women's athlete of the year on June 30 in conjunction with the Topeka Shawnee County Sports Awards. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Scardanzan, who TopSports.news will honor as Washburn's 2021 Female Athlete of the Year Wednesday night, finished as the runner-up in the NCAA Division II Indoor and Outdoor Championships, notching a career best of 4.35 meters (14-3.25) during the outdoor season.
Scardanzan added another silver medal in the Italian championships, finishing second to Elisa Molinarolo, who cleared 4.35 meters.
"I've collected a few silver medals,'' said Scardanzan, who was seeded fifth entering the Italy Championships. "I kind of want to say this might be a more important one just because it's in my country and it has a little more value, but it's been an incredible year so I'm very, very happy.
"My country is always going to be in my heart, but Washburn is the one that has given me the possiblity of working so hard and having the access to an amazing facility. Definitely Washburn has been an incredible tool for me.and for my success, especially this year.''
Now Scardanzan's focus in on the 2024 Summer Games in Paris.
"The next three years are filled with European Championships, World Championships and in just three years there are Olympic championships,'' Scardanzan said. "I know that trusting the process is going to give me so many opportunities to still represent Washburn and my country in the next few years.
"The last month of training has been very positive and very consistent, so I knew I could hit heights that are very big heights for me. I sat down with my coach, Rick Attig, after NCAA Outdoor Nationals and we have a three-year plan to which we're going to commit and work hard in order to make all those dreams come true.''
Scardanzan plans to compete in additional international meets this summer and then take some time off before returning to Washburn this fall.
"I am taking off officially on July 20th and I'm taking a month off to rest and re-set because Sept. 1st coach (Cameron) Babb (Washburn head coach) has already declared that we're starting our preseason work for Washburn University.''
