Silver in K1 200 meters at the Olympics. The first hug to Stefano Loddo
A silver medal illuminated the Italian night of the canoe. At the Sea Forest waterway in Tokyo, in the most awaited race, the Olympic final, the 30-year-old Manfredi Rizza from Pavia, who grew up paying on the Ticino at the Canottieri, climbed to the second step of the podium of the K1 200 meters, wearing a historic medal that brings back the Italy on the Olympic podium in canoeing after 13 years. And the first hug on the pier was for Stefano Loddo, who after the years with Pavia followed him to Tokyo.
“I am very happy with this result even though I was very close to gold. It was a practically perfect race, I came out strong from the blocks and I gave my all. I am proud of myself and of all the path I have done from Rio to today. . I dedicate this medal to all Italian canoeists “said Manfredi at the end of a wonderful race.
The 30-year-old Lombard, already European gold and world bronze, Manfredi Rizza fought for the victory to the last centimeter, finishing in 35 “080, beaten only by the Hungarian Sandor Totka (35” 035), while the British Liam Healt, Olympic champion in Rio, he finished on the lowest step of the podium in 35 “202.
The start on Ticino
Rizza’s love for the canoe starts very early, to put him in the water is the historic coach of the Canottieri, Antonio Mortara: “It’s been a long time – says Mortara, former technician of the World Champion Luca Negri and of the Olympian Jacopo Majocchi – but I remember well that since childhood Manfredi was a shy boy, who trained with his head down. I was a very demanding coach, but Manfredi never pulled back and over time he became a tornado. I have always followed him over the years and now he has given us immense joy: knowing that a crumb of this success is mine and that of all the people who have accompanied him in his career from the beginning fills me with pride “.
Manfredi Rizza as a boy with Canottieri Ticino
After having collected the first medals on the competition fields all over Italy, in 2009 the Canottieri athlete begins to make himself known abroad thanks to the silver won in K4 at the Junior European Championships (Under 18). Since 2010 Rizza has been followed by the technician Stefano Loddo, who, taking him by the hand, has guided him to the most important successes of his career: since 2012 the Pavia area has become the Italian reference point on 200 meters; after sixth place in the Olympic qualifications for the London Games, Rizza gains more confidence on the short distance and at the end of the year he is crowned Italian Champion in the Senior, Under 23 and Under 21 categories. 2013 is the year of international consecration with the double silver medal at the Mediterranean Games and the Universiade.
The following year Rizza climbs again on the international podium, this time in the World Cup, winning the bronze medal in the K2 race paired with Matteo Florio from Mantua; K2 flows well and Rizza decides to put K1 aside to focus on the double boat in view of the Rio de Janeiro Games. The pre-Olympic year begins with another medal in the World Cup in the K4 race with friends Michele Bertolini, Riccardo Cecchini and Edoardo Chierini, all athletes of the Canottieri Ticino.
K2 also runs well and throughout the year the blue duo remains close to the former; at the World Championships, however, something is wrong and the Italian K2 unexpectedly remains out of the final. Having disposed of the disappointment, the color bearer of Canottieri contemplates returning to the single boat to fly to Rio: more medals arrive in the World Cup, but above all the qualification for the Olympics and the Brazilian experience, where Rizza is ranked sixth.
The placement at the Rio Games marks a turning point for the Pavese, as he himself recalled yesterday in Tokyo. After a sabbatical year, in which Rizza dedicates himself to studies and becomes an athlete of the Air Force, between 2018 and 2021, he begins to climb the world canoe ranking: in 2018 he is eighth, in 2019 fifth and earns the pass for Tokyo. , in 2020, however, is forced to stop due to the pandemic. The champion from Pavia uses this forced break to obtain a master’s degree in Materials and Nanotechnology Engineering at the Politecnico di Milano and to work in depth on his own technical and physical preparation. In lockdown Rizza lays the foundations for 2021 and the path towards the Games is a show: in the spring he wins the Italian selections, at the first round of the World Cup he climbs on the podium earning a precious bronze medal, at the Europeans he stops at the fifth place but adds the absolute continental title in the non-Olympic 200 meters K2 race, together with rival friend Andrea Di Liberto. The rest is history: yesterday’s medal and finally the crowning of a dream cultivated since childhood.