In St. Pölten

Grandiose! Enzo Diessl storms to the European Championships in Rome

Enzo Diessl with his coaching team Beate Hochleitner and Christoph Ranz

(Bild: Olaf Brockmann)

Enzo Diessl, what a great and likeable athlete, what a unique talent! In his first race in regular wind conditions over the men's hurdles, the 19-year-old Styrian stormed to the limit for the European Championships in Rome (June 7-12) at the Liese Prokop Memorial in St. Pölten. The 2023 European U20 champion completed the 110 m hurdles in a magnificent 13.46 seconds - with a tailwind of 1.9 m/sec in accordance with the rules. Enzo Diessl then won the final in 13.55 seconds

Enzo Diessl finally had some luck with the wind in St. Pölten this year. In his first two races in the general class, he had already set top times of 13.31 on 9 May in Maria Enzersdorf and 13.38 on 12 May in Graz, but these results could not be recognized as direct qualification for the European Championships due to an unacceptably strong tailwind (more than 2.0 m/sec). Now, however, he equalized the required standard of 13.46 in St. Pölten to within a hundredth of a second. The European Championships have become a reality for the comet in the Austrian athletics sky.

Enzo Diessl also broke Elmar Lichtenegger's Austrian U23 record, which was almost 28 years old. The Carinthian, who later became a world-class athlete, had held this best time of 13.63 since June 15, 1996 in Feldkirch. With his time in St. Pölten, Enzo Diessl also moved into fourth place on the "eternal" Austrian record list, which has been led by Mark McKoy with 13.14 since 1994.

Enzo Diessl

(Bild: Olaf Brockmann)

Enzo Diessl had already demonstrated his great abilities in the men's 60 m hurdles in the indoor season this year. With a time of 7.64 seconds, he missed the limit for the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow by just two hundredths. Now, however, with his qualification for the European Championships in Rome, he has his first major event in the general class in the bag.

Coaching duo
All this is also a success for his excellent environment. With Beate Hochleitner and Christoph Ranz, Enzo Diessl has an outstanding coaching team. The young hurdler was cleverly introduced to the top international level. Not only did he become European U20 champion in Jerusalem in 2023, at the end of last year he was even ranked number 1 in the world in the U20 category with his time of 13.11 seconds over the 110 m hurdles (99.0 cm) in St. Pölten on 20 May 2023. He is by far one of the greatest talents Austria's athletics has ever produced.

It is a shame, however, that this excellent coaching duo does not yet receive the financial support it deserves. Although the ÖLV is already supporting them in the best possible way, potential sponsors such as the Province of Styria or the Styrian Athletics Association are still lagging behind. It seems that not everyone has yet realized what a great young talent Enzo Diessl is. He is a talent of the century who should be given every conceivable support.

For all those who are not yet familiar with his family background, here are a few key facts about how Enzo Diessl grew up internationally. He was born on June 6, 2004 in Villa Ocampo in Argentina. This place is not to be confused with the famous villa of the same name in Buenos Aires. It is a small town in the province of Santa Fe. As he recounts, he lived there for five years. Then his parents moved with the children to Shanghai for ten months, where Enzo went to Goethe School in the Jingan district. The journey around the world continued. For a short time, the Diessls lived in Germany, in the Swabian town of Fichtenberg, before returning to Buenos Aires for around nine months. "In May 2011," says Enzo, "we finally moved to Austria." There he went to elementary school in Leibnitz. "After a short phase in which we moved around a lot, it was important to his parents that we could now settle down."

Decision for Austria
About his parents: his father is German and comes from Reutlingen, while his great-grandmother's maternal line goes back to Italy. Like many Europeans, the Italian family emigrated to Argentina after the First World War. "We had inherited the Italian passport from birth for five or six generations." He also had an Italian passport for a short time at the age of 18, but gave it up so that he could compete for Austria.

He also had German citizenship from birth. So he could also have competed in athletics for Germany. But he renounced his German citizenship. On February 19, he officially switched from Germany to Austria, as noted on the homepage of the World Athletics Federation. A decision that was easy for Enzo. "I grew up here, my coaches are from here, I have support from the Austrian Athletics Federation. All of that together has meant a lot to me." Fortunately for Austria. It will be interesting to see what Enzo Diessl achieves for Austrian sport over the next decade.