Nadia Battocletti and 41 other Azzurri for European XC Championships

National teams technical director Antonio La Torre has announced the list of those called up for the European XC Championships scheduled for Sunday, Dec. 14, in Lagoa, Portugal.

Ready for takeoff are 42 athletes, including 21 men and 21 women. Leading the team, as well as reigning champion, is Nadia Battocletti, the first Italian woman to win the overall continental cross-country title and the first European woman to win gold in the U20, U23 and overall categories.

For the woman from Trentino, it will be the last blue event of the year, in a season that confirmed her at the top of the world rankings with silver in the 10,000 and bronze in the 5,000 in Tokyo. At the continental level, however, she triumphed in the 10 km in the inaugural edition of the European Road Championships in Leuven.

Also on the Italian team were last year’s team gold medalists in Antalya Elisa Palmero, Valentina Gemetto and Nicole Reina, and reigning mixed relay champions Pietro Arese, Marta Zenoni and Sebastiano Parolini, this time fielded together with Gaia Sabbatini, who was the last gold medalist at Piedmont 2022. In the men’s 7470-meter event, Italian marathon record holder Yohanes Chiappinelli is summoned. Italy will also be at the start with the two U23 and two U20 teams.