Excitement for the European Athletics Championship in Rome: Words from Anna Bongiorni

"I am extremely excited for the European Athletics Championships to be held in Rome, which is my favorite city. In Italy, in Bressanone in 2009, I had my first international competition. It's always nice to see the world and see new places, but the atmosphere when you compete at home is unbeatable. We can't wait to run in front of our audience. I have been waiting for this moment for a very long time. We are so pumped and happy." These are the words of Anna Bongiorni, who last summer shared the captain's duties with Gianmarco Tamberi, leading the Italian team to the conquest of the first, historic European Cup in Poland. Now the blues are preparing with enthusiasm for the unmissable appointment with the continental event in Rome, scheduled at the Olympic Stadium and the Foro Italico Park from June 7 to 12. After the European bronze in the 4x100 women's relay won in Munich in 2022 and the fourth place at the Budapest World Championships, Bongiorni and her teammates want to celebrate again in front of the home crowd. "With the relay girls - says the veteran blue - we have worked a lot in these years and the results have repaid us for the efforts. The bronze in Munich was unexpected, it seemed unreachable, but we still have a lot of hunger. It will be a very important year. We have a big eye to Paris but we also want to do well at the European Championships in Rome. Having the charge of our cheer will make us run strong. We will continue to work on ourselves. The more we improve individually, the more the relay will grow." From Rome to Paris via the Bahamas, where the World Relays will be held, intense months are approaching for the Italian relay runners. "Given the qualification system for the 2024 Olympics, we do not yet have the pass despite the beautiful time made in Budapest last year. Now there is the beautiful opportunity of the World Championships for the relays in the Bahamas in early May. We must try to bring home the result. It will be important to get the qualification. We can't afford any mistakes," explains Bongiorni. Returning to the success of Chorzow, the blue tells that "winning the European Cup with the Italian team was one of the greatest satisfactions of my career. Even though I don't feel so old, I have a lot of experience with relays and with knowing how to make a group. My race did not go very well and so I had an extra stimulus to try to spur my teammates. We are a united team, with Tamberi we have worked a lot to support the youth teams and the senior team. We cheer for each other, and we are happy for the satisfactions and results we achieve as a team," concludes Bongiorni.