Francesco Scalzotto, born in 2008, has just finished his experience at the European Youth Orienteering Championships in Brno, Czech Republic. This is the second EYOC for him, after his first one last year in Poland. He has earned these opportunities through hard work and discipline, and they are very important for his future in orienteering.
Francesco, if you had to give a mark out of 10 for how satisfied you are with the European Championships, how would you rate it? Why?
It would be a bad mark, because I am not as fit as I would have hoped to be a year ago. Unfortunately, I injured myself before the competition, so I could not do as well as I had hoped.
What did you enjoy the most? What was the best part? I really liked the team. We are all very united, even though we have different backgrounds, and this is an important strength. Even though I lost time in the long distance, I was happy with my race pace.
What went wrong? Unfortunately I got a little carried away with the training load the days before my races. We had a three-day camp with six training sessions. This meant that my physical and mental recovery wasn’t as good as it should have been for the next competition.
Three things you took home from this experience. Once again, I learnt a lot about myself and my opponents, and I gained some valuable insights for the future.
What are your future goals? After recharging my batteries, I want to focus on the Italian Long Distance Championships and deliver a strong performance in the relay. In the long term, I am motivated to come back next year and try to succeed at the Europeans in Nova Gorica, Slovenia.