Larissa Iapichino is now considered one of the greatest athletes in world athletics, and sport has been part of her destiny since childhood, as she is the daughter of Fiona May, a two-time world champion and two-time Olympic silver medalist in the long jump, and Gianni Iapichino, a former record holder and multiple Italian pole vault and decathlon champion, as well as her coach.
Born in July 2002, she was in the spotlight from an early age, thanks in part to a well-known television commercial. Initially, Larissa didn’t want to pursue athletics, so she dedicated herself to artistic gymnastics for eight years. The turning point came in 2015 when she attended the Monte Carlo meet live and immediately fell in love with athletics. Her talent was immediately clear: she holds all the indoor and outdoor long jump records in the youth categories.
2019 was the year of her first international success when, during the Italian Youth Championships in Agropoli, she recorded a long jump distance of 6.64 m, a new Italian Under-18 best, a feat further cemented by her gold medal at the European Under-20 Championships in Boras, Sweden.
In 2020, she set a new U20 and U23 outdoor record of 6.80 m, the fourth fastest junior athlete in the world in her first year in the category. In 2021, she set the U20 indoor world record with 6.91 m, a historic record held by Heike Drechsler for 35 years.
In 2023, Larissa won silver at the European Championships in Istanbul with 6.97 m, her first overall medal and an all-time Italian indoor record. Also this season, she became the European U23 Champion with a jump of 6.93 m, won three Diamond League events (Golden Gala in Florence, Stockholm, and Monte Carlo), also setting her personal best outdoors with 6.95 m, and placed fifth at the World Championships in Budapest.
In 2024, she won silver at the European Championships in Rome with a jump of 6.94 m and reached her first Olympic final, finishing fourth in Paris. She closed the season on a high note by winning the Diamond League final in Brussels, the first Italian woman in history to do so.
In 2025, she won gold at the European Championships in Apeldoorn with a jump of 6.94 m, was named an Officer of the Italian Republic, and cleared the 7-meter barrier in Palermo with a jump of 7.06 m. On July 29th, she won the European Cup in Madrid with a jump of 6.92 m. On August 3rd, she confirmed her title as the Italian overall champion in the long jump, winning the title in Caorle with a leap of 6.78 m, reaffirming her dominance on the national scene. On August 28th, she won the Diamond League in Zurich with a leap of 6.93 m.
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