Date of birth: 06/08/1991
Place of birth: Mottola
Height x weight: 1,66 x 49
First Club: Polisportiva Don Milani
Club: Fiamme Gialle
First Coach: Tommaso Gentile
Coach: Patrizio Parcesepe
Other sports: Volleyball
Hobby: Music, cooking, drawing
Relationship Status: Married
Olympic Games Participation:
1 (Rio 2016)
Biography
She played volleyball until 2003, when she was convinced to take up walking. Her rich list of achievements as a young athlete includes a victory in the Junior World Cup - an unprecedented result for an Italian female athlete - in Chihuahua in 2010. She moved to Rome in 2012. Finished close to the podium at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing (fifth) and then at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio (fourth) despite a season affected by a right tibial injury. In 2017, she set the national record in the 10,000 track event (41:57.29) and won bronze at the World Championships in London with 1h26:36, the second Italian ever, improving her record by over a minute. Another bronze at the European Championships in Berlin in 2018, before her marriage to Lorenzo Dessi, a walking 'colleague'. She competes with a felt flower on her head, made by her mother. She studied advertising graphics.
Palmares
PrintOlympic Games
4a Rio (BRA) 2016
World Championships
12a Mosca (RUS) 2013
5a Pechino (CHN) 2015
3a Londra (GBR) 2017
13a Doha (QAT) 2019
European Championships
7a Zurigo (SUI) 2014
3a Berlino (GER) 2018
World Cup