Arianna Fontana targets two sports for Milano-Cortina 2026
11 Olympic medals later, Italian sensation Arianna Fontana is hoping for a perfect and historic ending at her home Games.
Short Track Speed Skating
Arianna Fontana wants to raise the bar at her home Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina 2026.
The Italian, an 11-time Olympic medallist in short track speed skating, is aiming for a bigger challenge at what would be her sixth Games, adding speed skating.
Fontana said she considered the double while working for the Milano Cortina bid. The competition calendar makes it possible to participate in events in both the short track and long track disciplines.
“I started thinking about a lot of things, like how many amazing things will happen at that Games,” the 34-yeard-old said on Wednesday, 18 September, according to NBC.
“My first Olympic Games was in 2006 in Torino. So, to be there again in Italy, 20 years later, and do something amazing, not just for me, but for everyone who’s been supporting me and following me. I started thinking what I could do, how to explore my limits.”
Fontana wanted to double right after the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Games, but with Covid and the ensuing logistical problems made it difficult for her to pursue the task at Beijing 2022.
“But then right after Beijing, I sat down with my federation and the Italian Olympic Committee, and I was like, I want to do this,” she said. “I’m committed. I want to try, and I’m going to give it a shot.”
The double 500m champion will aim for the two new events on the Olympic speed skating program; the mass start and the team pursuit.
She is no stranger to doubling in competition, something she did as a 12 -year-old.
To set off her journey, she recently competed at a senior speed skating competition at a preseason event at the Utah Olympic Oval, just outside Salt Lake City, where she splits her training alongside Montreal.
On 31 August, she competed in the 500m and the 3000m, and also set her personal best over the 1500m, a day later.
“The long straightaway, I’m still working on it,” said Fontana on the difficulties of the longer course event.
“On short track, the movements are really, really fast. On long track, I really need to take my time, especially on the straightaway.”
Fontana hopes to qualify for World Cups in speed skating and also short track in the 2024-25 season.
She is yet to decide which of the world championships she would compete in, as they are both scheduled for the same weekend in March - one in China and the other Norway.
With 11 Olympic medals, she’s the most medalled Italian athlete at the Winter Olympics in history. Only Edoardo Mangiarotti with 13, has won more in Italian Olympic history.
She is also motivated by one of the most successful lugers in history, Armin Zoggeler, the only athlete from the European nation to medal in six consecutive editions of the Olympic Games.