Swimming World Championships: Beck, a happy German in Ostia: ‘Like a family’

Waiting for the 10 km men at the Fukuoka World Championships (1 am, live on Rai 2 and Sky Sport) with Gregorio Paltrinieri and Domenico Acerenza, outgoing gold and silver and busy looking for the podium that is worth the Olympic pass, let’s talk about the Eldorado of Ostia , the cradle of the fund that everyone envies us. Where the Azzurri build the cross-country medals, and where more and more requests arrive from foreign swimmers, such as the one immediately accepted by the new German champion Leonie Beck, 26, who has decided to invest in herself (like the French Marc Antoine Olivier) and on the project with Fabrizio Antonelli, the mentor of Gregorio Paltrinieri and Domenico Acerenza, in Rio of the Olympic silver Rachele Bruni, of Arianna Bridi. Italy which makes foreigners stronger is a bit like the USA which hosts champions from other countries, especially at the College: see the Frenchman Leon Marchand, two-time mixed world champion. After the fifth Olympic place, Leonie thought about the idea of ​​moving to Ostia. In 2022 her first match: with the European title in the 10 km in front of Geneva Taddeucci, with the world gold in the relay and the silver in the 10 km. Now the world title and the Olympic pass.”Being world champion is something very special – said the Teutonic blonde – qualifying for the Olympic Games was all I wanted here. Now everything that comes will be like a bonus, but I will continue to give 110%”. In 2022 Leonie took the opportunity to have won a sports scholarship doubling the contribution to 600 euros for 18 months: she obtained her Master’s in Media Communications while she was grinding kilometers.

Gold of a lifetime

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”It was what I wanted most since I was swimming: to win the world title. Everything worked well, I distributed my forces well ”she said as if to underline how he studied every tactical strategy with Antonelli in the best possible way. “Qualifying in Paris was all I wanted.” The sports director of the German federation Christian Hansmann underlined the importance of Leonie’s Italian experience: “Training in Italy is good for her. It’s something new, to grow further ”, Beck herself said about her move to Ostia,“ I have a fantastic training group, it is my second family ”.