Francesca Orfeo Nears U23 Record with Fifth Place in 200m at Italian Championships

At the Italian Athletics Championships in Florence, sprinter Francesca Orfeo finished fifth in the women’s 200 m, clocking 23.66 seconds. Her time was just one hundredth of a second away from the regional Under‑23 record of 23.65 set by Carla Mercurio in 1981. Orfeo improved her personal best by six hundredths of a second and was coached by Franco Farroni.

The race was won by Vittoria Fontana (23.03), with Gloria Hooper (23.10) and Elena Cambiolo (23.11) rounding out the podium. In the shot‑put, Ludovica Montanaro placed seventh with a throw of 14.72 m, close to her own regional record of 14.83 m and her season best of 14.81 m. Elettra De Cesare ran 59.72 seconds in the 400 m hurdles, finishing second in her battery but missing the final, while Ayomide Folorunso captured the hurdles title in 54.41 seconds.