"VAN" (Sports Desk - 24.03.2026) :: Italian women achieved an unusual double on the second day of the World Indoor Championships Kujawy Pomorze 2026, striking gold in two very different events, the 60m and 3000m, perfectly illustrating the growth of the country’s female athletes and the wide range of excellence among the Azzurri.
The gold rush began with Nadia Battocletti, the better known of the duo, who has grown steadily over the years, starting from cross country, were she became the only athlete, male or female, to be twice crowned European champion in all age categories (U20, U23 and seniors) between 2018 and 2025, later adding more continental titles on track and roads. But she truly blossomed from 2024, first conquering Olympic silver in the 10,000m behind the dominant Beatrice Chebet, repeating the 10,000m silver at last year’s World Championships and adding bronze in the 5000m.
NADIA FIRST EUROPEAN GOLD SINCE 2001 in Toruń she claimed her first global title on her maiden participation at the World Indoors, with a convincing win over the USA’s Emily McKay and Australia’s Jessica Hull, to record the first victory by a European woman since 2001.
At 1200m, hot favourite Freweyni Hailu fell while she was in second place, and though she picked herself up and gradually moved up the field again, could not do better than sixth. Hailu’s 20-year-old compatriot Aleshign Baweke fought valiantly to continue their country’s golden tradition (10 wins over the last 12 editions) but finished just off the podium.
PREPARATION NOT IDEAL The lead-up to the World Indoors had however not been ideal for the Italian star, who owns seven national records on distances ranging from 1500m on track to 10km on the roads. Nadia – the daughter of Italian distance runner Giuliano Battocletti (who is also her coach) and Moroccan 800m runner Jawhara Saddougui – is a practicing Muslim, and the holy fasting month of Ramadan fell this year between 17 February and 19 March.
A week before travelling to Poland she was so debilitated she wanted to withdraw, but her parents convinced her to try her chances despite feeling very weak.
DOSSO QUIETLY SCALING WORLD LISTS Sprinter Zaynab Dosso has also been quietly scaling world lists over the last three years, and after taking global indoor bronze in 2024 and silver in 2025, she finally conquered the top spot of the podium, in a race nobilitated by the presence of 100m Olympic champion Julien Alfred, the 2024 champion who was absent in 2025.
Alfred and Dosso shared the World Lead coming to Poland, as both had clocked 6.99 – a first sub-7:00 mark for the Italian, bringing her to N.14 of all time, while the pride of Saint Lucia had already clocked 6.94 (N.4 all time) in 2023.
Their times in the heats in Toruń were very close (Alfred 7.06 vs 7.07 for Dosso), but the Italian was impressive in the semis with 7.00 – three hundredths faster than her competitors and four faster than Alfred.
In the final, Dosso was impeccable, starting strongly and gradually increasing her lead towards the finish, repeating her 7.00 to prevail against Jacious Sears and Alfred, both awarded 7.03, with the North American taking silver by 3 thousandths of a second.
FIRST GOLD FOR AN ITALIAN SPRINTER Dosso thus became the very first Italian woman to win a global gold in the sprints.
After the race, the new champion credited her coach, former top hurdler Giorgio Frinolli, for pushing her out of her comfort zone and helping her overcome her awe of her opponents, pointing out how the breakthrough was mainly mental.
Dosso also quoted as inspirational the recent historical feats by other Italian athletes, "Jannik Sinner’s breakthrough exploits, and Marcel Jacobs, who both achieved what had appeared to be 'impossible'. I hope this will help upcoming athletes to aim high, because initially our goal was just to take part in World Championships, so I hope my gold can inspire many young athletes to emulate this result. We already have Kelly Doualla, who at 16 achieved a great performance, running in the heats next to Alfred and reaching the semis."
With two such talents – and long jumper Larissa Iapichino taking silver this morning – Italy confirms the great progress of its female athletes, as well as the depth and breadth of the entire team, as Italian athletes have shown – since the formidable Tokyo Olympics – that they are a force to be reckoned with in athletics.
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