Diving, Santoro baby d’oro: hat-trick as a phenomenon at the Youth World Cup

Gold is already in the surname: Santoro. The name is prophetic: Matthew. And he is Roman like Berrettini, his idol. The blue divers deliver from the Youth World Championships in Montreal (city of memorable Olympic and world medals by the Dibiasi-Cagnotto company) another little big blue story that is updated in this fabulous 2022 for the baby diver. Matteo had in fact climbed on the podium of the World Championships with Chiara Pellacani in the mixed synchro. Then he also got on the podium at the European Championships of the adults in his Rome and always with his “sister” Chiara Pellacani, so he had totaled 4 gold medals at the European juniors, from trampolines and in the team event. In short, only the Mondialini were missing to close the circle. And in Montreal, he made a fabulous trio by winning first from the small trampoline, then from the Olympic trampoline and finally with Stefano Belotti from Bergamo from the synchronized 3 meters (with 299.25 beat the Croatians Nevescanin-Ledinski 296.25, 3rd and the British Baker-Thomas 289.77). It is the fifth Italian medal of this expedition (also the bronze for Valerio Mosca and Giorgia De Sanctis): but the undisputed star is this Santoro who competes for Fratelli Marconi and has the British Jack Laugher as his reference diver.

the berettini idol

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He dived for the first time at 4 years old, in 2021 he won the first ever European gold and is capable of alternating between small and absolute without changing his attitude: having fun lightly. All time. He likes literature and history, he listens to a lot of music. “My secret? I withdraw into myself, and I think, I relax, I focus on the things to do”. He too attends Tik tok, spends a lot of time on the computer but doesn’t let it influence him. “I like series”. Born on 9 October 2006, 175 cm tall and 68 kg, he was part of the brood discovered by Domenico Rinaldi, who found the right coach for him: Alice Palmieri. Either he studies (third year of scientific high school) or he trains, Matteo. And he looks at his sports idol beyond diving: “I admire Berrettini so much, his name is Matteo like me, he is Roman like me and he frequents a place in Rome like me: he is a figure from whom I take many ideas”.

Calm

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What type is Matthew? “I think I’m quite calm, I speak the right”. And as mom says: he now he dreams of the Paris Olympics. Are these major medals changing you? “I want to keep my feet on the ground. I don’t get pissed off, otherwise we won’t go anywhere. I stay as humble as possible, and these victories give me much more confidence in what I do.”