from standard bearer Tamberi to Tommaso Marini and Sofia Raffaeli. Watch out for Pianosi, Cocciaretto, Barontini

ANCONA Gianmarco Tamberi will lead a large patrol from the Marche region to Paris. With the blue flag-bearer for now, twelve are certain of participating in the next Paris Olympics, but others could soon snatch the coveted pass. And the Marche could thus manage to surpass the attendance record of Athens (15) and perhaps increase the best medal haul of London 2012, when 8 medals arrived in the region, seven of which were won by athletes from the province of Ancona. The conditions are all there.

Running

To establish the record of participants, the outcome of the qualifiers in which the Italian national basketball team will participate will be decisive, in which the Ancona players Alessandro Pajola (24 years old) and Achille Polonara (32) and the Potenza native Luca Severini (27) play. A patrol where on paper there are several athletes capable of aiming for the podium or gold, and the people from Ancona do the lion’s share. Greater chances for high jumper Gimbo Tamberi, who will try to set another record by winning Olympic gold twice in a row. But also for foil player Tommaso Marini, 23 years old, world champion in Milan in July last year and protagonist in this season’s Cup competitions, both in the individual and team competitions. Then Sofia Raffaeli, in rhythmic gymnastics, 20 years old, from Chiaravalle, standard bearer of Fabriano Gymnastics, first Italian in history to win a world championship, in 2022, and vice champion last year, in great form in the trials of these last few weeks. Without underestimating the possibilities of clubmate Milena Baldassarri, 22 years old, sixth in Tokyo and winner of five world medals. In artistic gymnastics, three of the members of the Italian team, European champions last year in Antalya, are from the Marche region. They are Lorenzo Casali, 22 years old, born in Hanoi but from Ancona by adoption, and the two men from Fermo, Matteo Levantesi, 27 years old, from Virtus Pasqualetti Macerata, and Mario Macchiati. Podium ambitions also for Riccardo Pianosi from Pesaro, 19 years old, in IqFoil sailing, reigning world champion who is literally forging ahead. In athletics there will be Simone Barontini from Ancona, 25 years old, in the 800 metres; in tennis Elisabetta Cocciaretto from Fermo, 23 years old, the youngest of the Italian team that reached the final of the Billie Jean King Cup. In swimming Alessandro Ragaini, 17 years old, from Castelplanio, has exploded in recent months with results (still in the running Simone Di Cola from San Benedetto); in water polo, Luca Marziali, 33 years old, from Fermo, is part of the Italian team.

The chances

Leandro Mosca, a 23-year-old from Recanati, is part of the Italian national volleyball team, which is one step away from qualifying. Fano sprinter Alice Pagliarini, 18, also has hopes of getting a pass in the women’s 4×100 relay. The next races will be decisive for her. Finally, in the clay shooting Massimo Fabrizzi, 47 years old, from San Benedetto right now in the pre-Olympic tournament in Qatar, the pass to Paris is being played with excellent performances. We remember that Fabrizzi won silver in London in 2012. In the running, even if with less chance, Elia Sdruccioli, 26 years old, from Ostra. However, there is nothing to be done for the Cuban-born Italian Oscar Martinez, 81 kg weightlifting world champion, as his weight category has been excluded from the Games.

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