Italian WTCS athlete Michele Sarzilla hit a major milestone in his career at the weekend. For the first time, he broke through the 30 minute barrier in the 10km.
Racing at the Innovation Run in Bergamo, he ran a time of 29:49. The sub-30 marker is a big achievement for any runner and will stand as a special moment in Sarzilla’s career.
Beyond the time itself, there were a number of fascinating aspects that came out of his run.
The first point was that Sarzilla noted he has been running 56km a week this year. Of course he has two other disciplines to train for, but it is interesting to see where he falls on the broader spectrum of high volume versus low volume in running. There are a lot of runners, and indeed some triathletes, that would push double the weekly volume in pursuit of similar running time.
It suggests that his training has been rather efficient lately. That itself connects with another interesting part of his achievement. Born in 1988, Sarzilla does not only remember a time before the internet. Had he been born just a few years earlier he would have been able to carry out his running training alongside the dinosaurs.
Age jokes aside, it is a little less common for an athlete to hit a personal best in their mid-30s. His training has therefore been dialled in and efficient to continue his improvement. Moreover he has recently displayed improvement in triathlon too.
At WTCS Cagliari in October, he achieved his best ever WTCS finish by placing 8th. After also finishing 14th at WTCS Bermuda and 17th at the WTCS Final in Abu Dhabi, he earned 17th in the overall 2022 Series. To go with that, he also finished 8th at the European Championships in Munich last year.
After his great season in 2022 and recent personal best, it is clear that Sarzilla still has plenty to give at the top level of the sport. He is an early favourite to make the Italian Olympic team next year and has already kicked off his 2023 season with a solid 24th place at WTCS Abu Dhabi.
The other notable aspect that Sarzilla shared about his personal best was the progression of his 10km times over the years. In 2014 he ran 33:53 so has dropped 4 minutes in the intervening nine years. In the below table, you can see the full development of his best time.
| Year | Time |
| 2014 | 33:53 |
| 2016 | 33:18 |
| 2017 | 32:48 |
| 2019 | 32:00 |
| 2023 | 29:49 |
It is encouraging to all athletes of how persistence pays off. Sarzilla’s example is a classic one of how improvements can be gradual. Over the years, he maintained the determination to get faster to consistently earn each advance.
In many ways, Sarzilla is the ultimate late bloomer. After racing one European Cup in 2016 and one in 2017, he only really got started in international triathlon in 2018, the year he turned 30. Now, five years later, he will push to break into the top-10 of the WTCS.
With his running hitting new levels, it would be unwise to count him out.
