Michele Sarzilla: “I used to pick kiwis in New Zealand, now I’m doing a triathlon at the Olympics”

“I didn’t want to know anything about sports anymore, then the triathlon He filled my void.” Michael Sarzilla, born in Bergamo in 1988, began his career as a competitive swimmer. Then disappointment and farewell to the world of sport, followed by a long period of reflection. “I felt that something was missing – he says – so I bought a bicycle and resumed training in my spare time”. It is the choice that changed his life. In 2018, at the age of 30, Sarzilla became a professional triathlete. In 2021 he obtained the title of Sprint triathlon and second place in the European Cup in Caorle. The following year he finished eighth in the World Championships of Cagliari and in 2023, ai world championships of Abu Dhabi, finished twenty-fourth. Now the “white Kenyan” – as he was renamed – dreams Paris 2024: “It’s my last chance, since I’ll be 36 in a year.”

First an amateur, then a farewell to the world of sport and finally a professional career. Does he tell us his story?

“I have been a professional since 2018, triathlon first it was a pastime, a passion. I was born as a competitive swimmer, then between the ages of 19 and 23 I had a moment of crisis and I didn’t want to know anything about sport anymore. I was a teenager, I wanted to learn more about the world and myself. So, I decided to travel. During that time I spent a year and a half in England, 8 years in Barcelona (from 2009 to 2017) and 6 months in New Zealand, after which between the ages of 22 and 23 I felt that I was missing something: sport, not the swimming, but the triathlon, because swimming has always been a bit boring. So I bought a bike and started training, but working 8 hours a day I was running out of time. Despite this, when I competed I always set good times”.

Why did you decide to return to Italy?

“In 2017 my father fell ill, an illness that led him to a coma. It’s sad to say, but when you see death so close you know you’re alive and you have to do everything as best you can. And I, having this gift, that of practicing triathlon with times above average, I decided to use my gift to the last drop. All this, however, at the gates of 30 years “.

Fabio Vedana, former Olympic coach and his coach, wrote the book “Triathlon for all”. It seems perfect for his story

“I needed to return to Italy due to my father and Fabio’s illness it was a common knowledge with the person who coached me when I lived in Barcelona, Fabrizio Gravina. It was he who pointed Fabio out to me as one of the triathlon mentors at the Italian level. And then, I’m from Bergamo, which is very close to Milan. Fabio I met him in Livigno in 2017, and it was he who asked me to come back because I wanted to train face to face. From here, the choice to return to Italy to be close to the family and with Fabio to train every day”.

History rewritten: in Rome in 1905 the first triathlon race in the world

Marco Patucchi

02 October 2019

The Paris 2024 Olympics, the first and last chance for you. How is he living it?

“It’s a nice journey, I don’t feel too much pressure, at least not yet. More than a year to go, even if since May 2022 we have been in the highlight of the qualification. I can say that I am experiencing this period well, because, as I always say: ‘It is not the destination that counts, but the journey’, which I am fully enjoying. The Olympic Games I’m a goal, if I get there I’ll be very happy, if I don’t get there I’ll have enjoyed this trip until the end. For now I’m in good shape and so I think it will be quite feasible, fingers crossed. I think it will be my one and only chance given that in 2024 I will be 36 years old”.

You are first in the Italian triathlon ranking. What does it mean for an athlete who started late like you?

“It means that when there’s the will to get to a point, you do it even if the conditions aren’t optimal. I think that if I had continued with triathlon at 19 I probably would have achieved the goals I have now and even more, but at that time I had other things on my mind. There has to be will as well as determination, otherwise you’ll get nowhere. Being the first of the Italians is science fiction because if I look back… 10 years ago I was picking kiwis in New Zealand, I was a farmer. Now I am the first of the Italian triathletes”.