European Athletics Championships: Nadia Battocletti Dominates, Wins Second Gold
Nadia Battocletti is putting on an impressive performance at the European Athletics Championships currently underway in Birmingham: After winning gold in the 5,000 meters, the Italian athlete repeated her success by triumphing in the 10,000-meter final as well, thanks to a spectacular surge in the last 250 meters of the race.
The middle-distance runner from Trentino clocked a time of 31:41.17—her season best—finishing ahead of the Dutch runner Maureen Koster, who took silver about four seconds behind, and the Belgian Jana van Lent, who won bronze. The other Italian runners also performed very well: Elisa Palmero finished fifth in 32:00.06, while Federica Del Buono came in sixth with a time of 32:01.42.
The surge over the final 300 meters made all the difference for Nadia, who left her opponents in the dust. For the 26-year-old athlete, this is her fourth continental gold medal of her career and her second at this edition of the European Championships. On Tuesday evening, Battocletti had won the European title in the 5,000 meters with a time of 15:37.84, repeating her victory from Rome in 2024. In that race, she was joined on the podium by Micol Majori, who staged an extraordinary comeback in the final stretch to claim the bronze medal in 15:40.65, behind Spain’s Marta Garcia, who took silver.
The 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter double confirms Battocletti’s extraordinary season; back in March, she had already made history by winning gold in the 3,000 meters at the World Indoor Championships in Torun, in Poland, with a time of 8:57.64. That victory had made the Italian athlete a world champion for the first time in her career, giving Italy its first gold medal in women’s middle-distance running at an Indoor World Championships.
The list of achievements for the Fiamme Azzurre star, coached by her father Giuliano, thus grows even further. Prior to these European Championships in Birmingham, Battocletti had already won Olympic and World Championship silver medals in the 10,000 meters and a World Championship bronze in the 5,000 meters, in addition to a series of European titles in track, road, and cross-country. Now she adds two more continental gold medals to her already extraordinary collection.
