Arianna Fontana

Arianna Fontana OMRI (born April 14, 1990) is an Italian short track speed skater, who has won eight Olympic medals, among these a gold in the 500m short track at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. Her medal haul following the 2018 Games made her the female short track skater with the most Olympic medals, and tied her with male skaters Apolo Ohno and Viktor An.[1] It also made her the Italian sportswoman with the second highest number of Winter Olympic medals, behind Stefania Belmondo.[2] She specialises in the 500 m event.[3]

Arianna Fontana

Fontana in 2006
Personal information
Born	April 14, 1990 Sondrio, Italy
Height	1.61 m (5 ft 3 in)
Sport
Country	Italy
Sport	Short track speed skating
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	500 m: 42.569 1000 m: 1:29.156 1500 m: 2:15.753 3000 m: 5:01.187
Medal record Women's short track speed skating Representing  Italy Senior level Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 1 2 5 World Championships 1 6 7 World Team Championships 0 0 1 European Championships 28 15 8 Total 30 23 21

Biography

Fontana started skating at the age of four, following in the footsteps of her brother Alessandro,[4] initially on roller skates before switching to ice skating.[5] She first trained in Lanzada until the rink there closed, when she switched her training base to Bormio.[6]

Fontana made her international championship debut at the 2006 European Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Krynica-Zdrój, where she took the overall silver medal.[4] At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, she won bronze in the 3000 m relay. She placed 11th in the 500m and 6th in the 1000 m. The relay medal was the first for Italy in short track speed skating: at 15 years of age, Fontana became the youngest Italian to win a Winter Olympic medal.[3] Following the 2006 Games, Fontana and her relay team-mates were appointed Knights of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.[7]

At the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, she won a bronze medal in the 500 metre event, was eliminated in the semifinals of the 1500 metre event, and was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the 1000 metre event. Her 500m bronze made her the first Italian to take an individual Olympic medal in short track.[3]

Fontano began dating Italian-American skater Anthony Lobello Jr. in 2012: the couple were engaged the following year[8] and married in May 2014 in Colico.[9] The couple split their time between homes in Valtellina, Courmayeur and Tallahassee, Florida.[10]

At the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, she was upgraded from a bronze to a silver medal in the 500 m event after colliding with British skater Elise Christie. Christie was disqualified after causing a crash in the final. She won a bronze medal in the 1500 m event and in the Team-event, and was disqualified in the 1000 m event. Following the Games, Lobello began coaching Fontana following his retirement from competition.[11] The following year Fontana took her first title at the World Short Track Speed Skating Championships, winning the gold in the 1500m and taking the overall silver.[3]

In October 2017, Fontana was named as Italy's flag bearer for the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.[12] She was the first short track skater to be selected as flag bearer for the Italian Olympic team and the second flag bearer from the Italian Ice Sports Federation, after Carolina Kostner.[4] She won her first Olympic gold medal there, in the 500 m event.[13] She was the first European to win a 500 m Olympic gold.[2] She also won silver in the team event and bronze in the 1000 m event, becoming the woman with most medals in the sport. It also meant that she had won Olympic medals at every contested distance.[2]

Achievements

Medal	Year/Venue	Event
Olympic Games
	2018 Pyeongchang	500 m
	2014 Sochi	500 m
	2018 Pyeongchang	3000 m relay
	2006 Turin	3000 m relay
	2010 Vancouver	500 m
	2014 Sochi	1500 m
	2014 Sochi	3000 m relay
	2018 Pyeongchang	1000 m
World Championships
	2015 Moscow	1500 m
	2007 Milan	500 m
	2011 Sheffield	500 m
	2011 Sheffield	1000 m
	2012 Shanghai	500 m
	2012 Shanghai	3000 m
	2015 Moscow	Overall
	2006 Minneapolis	3000 m relay
	2011 Sheffield	Overall
	2012 Shanghai	Overall
	2014 Montreal	3000 m relay
	2015 Moscow	500 m
	2015 Moscow	1000 m
	2015 Moscow	3000 m relay
European Championships
	2006 Krynica-Zdrój	3000 m relay
	2008 Ventspils	1500 m
	2008 Ventspils	3000 m
	2008 Ventspils	Overall
	2009 Turin	500 m
	2009 Turin	1000 m
	2009 Turin	Overall
	2010 Dresden	500 m
	2010 Dresden	1500 m
	2011 Heerenveen	1000 m
	2011 Heerenveen	1500 m
	2011 Heerenveen	3000 m
	2011 Heerenveen	Overall
	2012 Mlada Boleslav	500 m
	2012 Mlada Boleslav	1500 m
	2012 Mlada Boleslav	3000 m
	2012 Mlada Boleslav	Overall
	2013 Malmö	500 m
	2013 Malmö	3000 m
	2013 Malmö	Overall
	2014 Dresden	500 m
	2017 Turin	1500 m
	2017 Turin	3000 m
	2017 Turin	Overall
	2017 Turin	3000 m relay
	2018 Dresden	1000 m
	2018 Dresden	Overall
	2020 Debrecen	3000 m SF
	2006 Krynica-Zdrój	1000 m
	2006 Krynica-Zdrój	3000 m SF
	2006 Krynica-Zdrój	Overall
	2007 Sheffield	3000 m relay
	2008 Ventspils	1000 m
	2010 Dresden	Overall
	2012 Mlada Boleslav	3000 m relay
	2013 Malmö	1000 m
	2013 Malmö	1500 m
	2015 Dordrecht	1000 m
	2018 Dresden	500 m
	2018 Dresden	3000 m SF
	2020 Debrecen	1500 m
	2020 Debrecen	Overall1
	2020 Debrecen	3000 m relay
	2006 Krynica-Zdrój	1500 m
	2007 Sheffield	1500 m
	2009 Turin	1500 m
	2010 Dresden	3000 m SF
	2011 Heerenveen	3000 m relay
	2014 Dresden	3000 m SF
	2014 Dresden	Overall
	2020 Debrecen	1000 m
World Junior Championships
	2009 Sherbrooke	3000 m relay
	2008 Bolzano	2000 m relay
	2009 Sherbrooke	500 m
	2008 Bolzano	1500 m

World Cup results

Competition	1st	2nd	3rd
World Cup	1	1	4

See also

• List of multiple Winter Olympic medallists
• Italian sportswomen multiple medalists at Olympics and World Championships

References

1. "How Arianna Fontana quietly skated into short track history". NBC Sports. 24 February 2018. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
2. Dolfin, Alberto (24 February 2018). "Arianna Fontana, la buonanotte con le medaglie e i dubbi sul futuro" [Arianna Fontana, goodnight with medals and doubts about the future 2019]. lastampa.it (in Italian). Retrieved 3 March 2019.
3. "Arianna Fontana". Olympics on NBC. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
4. "Arianna Fontana will be the flag bearer for Italy at PyeongChang 2018". Italian National Olympic Committee. 24 October 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
5. "Arianna Fontana, una vita da vincente. I complimenti di Malagò" [Arianna Fontana, a winning life. The compliments of Malagò]. ansa.it (in Italian). 14 February 2018. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
6. "Olimpiadi invernali, oro per Arianna Fontana. Anthony, i pattini e i tatuaggi: tutti i segreti di Arianna" [Winter Olympics, gold for Arianna Fontana. Anthony, skates and tattoos: all the secrets of Arianna]. sky.it (in Italian). 13 February 2018. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
7. Vanier, Selina (10 January 2017). "Featured interview: Arianna Fontana (ITA)". International Skating Union. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
8. Zaccardi, Nick (2 February 2014). "Anthony Lobello's country switch a Winter Olympic first". Olympics on NBC. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
9. Landrini, Fabio (1 June 2014). "Colico, matrimonio all'americana per Arianna Fontana" [Colico - American wedding for Arianna Fontana]. ilgiorno.it (in Italian). Retrieved 1 March 2019.
10. Pizzimenti, Chiara (19 November 2017). "Arianna Fontana: pattini, Florida e tricolore" [Arianna Fontana: skates, Florida and the Italian flag]. vanityfair.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2 March 2019.
11. "For Italy's Arianna Fontana, road to Olympic speed skating gold runs through Tallahassee". tallahassee.com. 13 February 2018. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
12. "Olympics: Fontana to be flag carrier". www.ansa.it/. Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata (ANSA). 20 October 2017. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
13. "Final results". Retrieved 20 February 2018.

External links

• Arianna Fontana at the International Skating Union
• Arianna Fontana at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
• Arianna Fontana at the International Olympic Committee
• Arianna Fontana at the Italian Olympic Committee (in Italian)