99 Azzurrini will represent Italia Team at the 17th edition of the European Youth Olympic Festival scheduled from 23-29 July in the Slovenian city of Maribor. There will be 48 European nations at the start of the European Olympic Committees’ competition dedicated to athletes aged 14-18.

Italia Team will compete in nine of the eleven disciplines present – it will not participate in 3x3 basketball and handball – with a total of 99 Azzurrini, 52 boys and 47 girls. There will be three new sports in the schedule compared to the previous editions: MTB, skateboarding and 3x3 basketball.

The Italian flag-bearers have also been selected. They will parade with the tricolour flag at the opening ceremony on Sunday 23 July in the Ljudski Vrt stadium, which gets underway at 8.30 p.m. Opening the Italian parade will be gymnast Tommaso Brugnami, gold medallist in the team event and bronze medallist in vault in the last edition of the EYOF, and Arianna Gambini, captain of the national volleyball team and herself a gold medallist at Banska Bystrica 2022.

In addition to the two flag-bearers, the Italia team includes several Italians who took part in last year’s record-breaking competition, when the Italia team won 47 medals in Slovakia, including 21 gold, 12 silver and 14 bronze medals. There are six medallists in athletics, including 100-metre champion Alice Pagliarini, while in swimming Daniele del Signore (two silver and one bronze medal in 2022) and Valentina Procaccini (one gold and one silver medal) will be back on the starting blocks.

The 17th edition of the European Youth Olympic Festival will be broadcast live by ItaliaTeamTV, CONI’s OTT platform, following the excellent viewing figures for the summer edition in Banska Bystrica 2022 and the winter edition organised last January in Friuli Venezia Giulia.