Simona La Mantia conquers triple jump with 14.40m attempt: Italian Championships – Athletics news
Italian triple jumper, Simona La Mantia, out-performed her rivals after a 14.40m attempt in the two-day Italian Championships held at the Primo Nebiolo Stadium. The triple jump European indoor champion missed her seasonal best leap just by three centimetres.
The 28-year old athlete has had the privilege of representing her country at the 2004 Summer Olympics and the 2005 World Championships. This initial success was followed by a few years of injuries which, of course, stopped her to participate in athletics
competitions.
While making a return to the game back in 2010, she earned a silver medal at the 2010 European Athletics Championships, along with a gold medal in the triple jump contest at the 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships.
The personal best marked by the formidable athlete is 14.69m, which she achieved in 2005 at Palermo. In the long jump, Mantia has a PB of 6.48m.
Interestingly, La Mantia’s both parents were athletes and thus, she has not only got perfect genes for the sport, but also the required confidence and mentoring that plays a pivotal role in making an athlete emerge as a victor. La Mantia’s mother, Monica
Mutschlechner, was a middle distance runner and used to take part in 800m contests, while her father, Antonino La Mantia, was a veteran steeplechase.
Brought up under an idealistic environment which helped her sporting skills, Mantia secured a silver medal as her first major victory at the European Athletics U23 Championships in 2003. The young girl had bagged the silver medal in the triple jump category.
As Mantia worked upon improving her strides, she elevated her skills to claim the event gold medal in 2005.
The Italian athlete was satisfied with her performance in the event and said, Mantia said: “I felt better today than at the Memorial Nebiolo and at the European Team Championships in Stockholm. I feel in good form and I am very consistent. This makes me
very happy. I will now compete in two Diamond League meetings in Paris and London and the World Military Champs in Rio de Janeiro.”
The motive behind La Mantia opting for the Italian championships this year was to contribute her share in celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Unity of Italy held at Turin. Charged up with the noble cause of the event, she started to mark
her dominance over the field right from the first round and went on to improve, which later culminated in bringing her the envied title.
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