Each day in the run up to the 2021 European Indoor Championships in Toruń, Decathlonpedia will feature some of the athletes competing in the heptathlon. Today, the new Italian decathlon and heptathlon champion, Dario Dester.

Twenty-year old Dario's arrival in the field for Toruń was in the form of an audacious performance at the Italian Championships in Ancona in February. He took on the long-time Italian No.1 Simone Cairoli, and not only edged him to the national title, but pushed both men to exceed the longstanding national heptathlon record of 5972. Dester became the first Italian over 6000 points, scoring 6076. Dario was already the national record holder for the U20 heptathlon, which he set in 2019.

While Dario's improvement in his vault to 5m and his shot to 14m helped him reach 6000 points and secure a place in Toruń, it was the improvement in his hurdles that made the big difference. He had already tweaked his lifetime best down to 8.30 earlier in the year, but in Ancona he brought it down much nearer to 8 seconds, running 8.13.

We might expect further improvement on Dario’s modest decathlon mark of 7655 later in the year, but he already brings championship experience, finishing 5th at the European U20 Championships in Borås in 2019, the competition won by Simon Ehammer.

Original photo via Cremona Sportiva

Gabby Pieraccini

Brief athletics career peaked with a glorious medal for Glasgow University in the 4x200 relay in 1992 (look it up, it’s true, honest). Since then been talking about decathlon to anyone who will listen, or anyone who has ears. Civil servant in Edinburgh, Scotland. Loves to tell the stories of decathlon: the highs, the lows, the joy and the tears.

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