Who is Erika Saraceni, the new star of Italian athletics
Born in Milan on May 21, 2006, Erika Saraceni is one of the young promises of Italian athletics. At 1.68 m tall and 54 kg, she competes for Bracco Athletics and is coached by Eugenio Paolino and Aldo Maggi, with a presence on the overall national team. A child of the art, she grew up in a family where athletics is at home: her father, Enrico Saraceni, an Italian fourcenter and masters world champion, fell in love on the track with her mother, Rosa Anibaldi, also a fourcenter. From a young age, she frequented the track, combining athletics with other sports such as artistic gymnastics, snowboarding, swimming and diving.
During the cadet category, followed by Giancarlo De Dionigi at the Saini field in Milan, she dedicated herself to the 300 hurdles, reaching the 2021 tricolor final. A fall at the first barrier, however, pushed her two weeks later to try the triple jump at the club championships. From then on, the new specialty became her passion. In 2022 she trained with Paolo Brambilla in Treviglio, but after a hamstring edema she returned under the guidance of Aldo Maggi, changing take-off foot to the right.
2023 was the year of her consecration as a youth: she won gold at the EYOF in Maribor with 13.42 m, the best Italian junior performance, and came close to the podium at the European Under-20s. Since June 2024 she has been followed for jumps by Eugenio Paolino, spending some training periods in Imperia, and in the same year she won bronze at the World U20 Championships in Lima with 13.47 m.
In 2025 she won the Italian absolute indoor title with 13.71 m, the best measure ever for an Italian junior indoors, and set the national under-20 record with 14.01 m, later raised to 14.08 m with third place at the European Team Championships in Madrid, thus making her debut on the absolute national team.
At the European Under-20 Championships in Tampere, Finland, Saraceni totally took the stage in the triple jump, triumphing with a measurement of 14.24 m. The Milanese dominated the competition, with a gap of almost half a meter over her opponent, Romania’s Daria Vrinceanu (13.75).
