Italian Athletics Championships Highlights

The 2024 Italian Athletics Championships showcased a thrilling weekend of competition featuring some of the world's best athletes. Here are the highlights from this prestigious event.

European champion Leonardo Fabbri won his fourth Italian outdoor title in the men’s shot put with 22.11m, the eighth consecu2024-06-30tive performance of this outdoor season. Fabbri produced a solid series that included 21.50m, 21.18m, 21.74m, 21.87m, 22.11m e 22.00m

Leonardo Fabbri: “I am not very happy. I threw very badly. I know that my coach Paolo Dal Soglio will have something to complain. I threw again over 22 metres, knowing that I have a lot of work to do and this makes me confident”. 

European champion Lorenzo Simonelli won his second consecutive Italian title in the 110 metres hurdles in 13.18 into a headwind of -1.3 m/s. Simonelli set the second fastest time of his career. He ran faster when he won the European gold medal in Rome in 13.05 setting the fastest time in Europe and the fourth best performance in the world this year. Only the top three of the US Trials final Grant Holloway (12.86), Freddie Crittenden (12.93) and Daniel Roberts (12.96) ran faster than Simonelli at world level this year. 

Lorenzo Simonelli: “I am very happy with my performance. I wanted to test my shape in two races in the same day ahead of the Olympic Games. I am enjoying this moment and I am looking forward to the Olympic Games. I will compete in the Paris Diamond League meeting in Paris”. 

Stefano Sottile cleared 2.30m to win his third Italian title in the men’s high jump. Sottile had a clean sheet clearing 2.10m, 2.15m, 2.20m, 2.23m, 2.26m and 2.30m in his first attempt moving to eighth in the world seasonal list. The former world under 18 champion achieved his best performance since 2019. 

Stefano Sottile: “I am very happy to clear 2.30m for the first time since 2019. I could equal my PB at 2.33. This result gives me a lot of confidence”. 

Giada Carmassi won her second consecutive  Italian title in the 100 metres hurdles improving her PB to 12.87 after clocking 12.96 in the heats. Carmassi moved to fourth in the Italian all-time list. 

Giada Carmassi: “I can’t believe it. I have to sink in what I achieved. I competed a lot recently to increase my chance to qualify for the Olympic Games”. 

Zaynab Dosso, bronze medallist in the 60 metres at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow and in the 100m at the European Cahmpionships in Rome in 2024, won her fifth Italian title in the 100 metres in 11.20. Arianna De Masi finished second in 11.28 missing her PB by just two hundredths of a second. 

Zaynab Dosso: “I took a week off after the European Championships. The goal was to make a good test ahead of the Olympic Games. I will compete in two Diamond League races in Paris and Monaco”.  

Anna Bongiorni won a close women’s 200 metres in 23.10 beating Dosso (23.17) and Italian under 20 record holder Elisa Valensin (23.19)-  

Matteo Melluzzo, European champion in the 4x100 relay, won the men’s 100 metres final in 10.12 improving his PB by 1 hundredth of a second. European indoor champion Samuele Ceccarelli finished second in 10.21. 

Matteo Melluzzo: “I won a European title in the 4x100 and the Italian title in the 100 in one month. I did not expect these good results after changing my coach last autumn. My father coached me at the start of my career. My new coach is Filippo Di Mulo”. 

Olympic 4x100 relay champion Eseosa Desalu won his fourth Italian title in the 200 metres in 20.30, the fourth fastest time of his career. 

Eseosa Desalu: “I clocked my fastest time since 2021. I scored a lot of points for the ranking. It was a good starting point”

Sara Fantini, European champion in Rome, won her seventh Italian title in the women’s hammer throw with 71.32m in the fifth round. 

Nadia Battocletti followed her European double in the 5000m and 10000 metres in Rome with her second 5000 metres Italian title in 15:24.69. Battocletti became the second Italian middle distance runner to win the 5000m and the 10000 metres at the same edition of the European Championships after Salvatore Antibo in Split 1990. 

Nadia Battocletti: “I did not want to take this title for granted. I wanted to give my best to honour the Italian Championships. I am training at altitude. I really enjoyed the support from the crowd at these championships”.

Federica Del Buono ran a gun-to-tape race in the women’s 1500m but she had to hold off strong finish by Sintayehu Vissa to win by 0.15 in 4:05.14. 

Pietro Arese, European bronze medallist and Italian record holder in the 1500m, won the 5000 metres title in a PB of 13:35.97. 

Federico Riva broke away with 200 metres to go to win a tactical men’s 1500 metres race in 3:40.63 ahead of Arese (3:41.06). Eloisa Coiro launched her attack in the final 100 metres to win her third consecutive title in the women’s 800 metres in 2:03.71. 

Roberta Bruni cleared 4.55m in her first attempt to win her sixth Italian outdoor title in the women’s pole vault. Bruni failed three attempts at 4.65m.

European indoor silver medallist Daryia Derkach leapt to 14.19m to claim her seventh national outdoor title in the women’s triple jump. 

Andrea Dallavalle, European silver medallist in Munich 2022, won his third national title in the men’s triple jump with 16.77m. 

Edoardo Scotti won the men’s 400 metres in 45.28, his fastest time since September 2020 when he won at the Rome Golden Gala in 45.21. Alice Mangione, European silver medallist in the mixed 4x400 relay, won her fourth Italian title in the women’s 400 metres in 51.57. 

European 20 km walking race Valentina Trapletti won her third consecutive Italian title in the 10 km walking race improving her PB to 43:54 in a race held in the centre of La Spezia. Andrea Agrusti won his first national title in the 10 km walking race with a gun-to-tape tactic dipping under the 40 minutes barrier with 39:55.