Champions Train with Technogym: Leonardo Fioravanti
The surfing champion chooses Technogym for his preparation for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The ocean and an older brother with a passion for surfing are what made Leonardo Fioravanti fall in love with this sport, making him the first Italian ever to qualify for the World Surf League in 2017, after having won the under 18 world title. Since he was a little boy, seeing his brother Matteo as his hero, he followed suit and started riding the waves together with him, discovering a connection with the ocean and realising that he wanted to turn surfing into a proper job.
This bond with the sport naturally led to the Olympic dream: “I’ve got wonderful memories from when I was little, sitting on the sofa and watching the Olympics with my parents. In my first years as a surfer I never imagined myself as an Olympic champion, as surfing had not been part of the games; since it's been included, this dream has become more and more concrete and now I can't wait to achieve it”.
Thanks to this perseverance, he qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, followed by the biggest win in his career to date, the Sydney Surf Pro in the WSL Challenger Series. But how, he has just one goal: Paris 2024.
The new edition of the Olympic Games is drawing near, and the results obtained by Leonardo in the latest sporting season have earned him the ticket to Tahiti, where the competitions against the other qualified athletes will take place.
“The road to Paris 2024 is a long one, and since the beginning I decided to fully experience every stage of it. First I went through the qualifying step, soon I’ll be on my way to Tahiti and then the preparation stage for the competitions will start, and so on. There is undoubtedly the desire to make my dreams come true, the wish to be the first Italian surfer to come home with the gold medal, but I really want to enjoy every moment of this experience and focus on every little step”.
But how important is both mental and physical conditioning for an athlete like Leonardo? Physical and mental strength come along together, he explains, because if you feel strong physically, you’ll also feel strong psychologically, and vice versa.
“There are two components you can train for: from a mental point of view, you can put yourself in uncomfortable and difficult situations to learn how to manage them, staying calm and getting out of them in the best way possible. At the same time, of course, you can train physically to try to become the best version of yourself”.
For his physical conditioning, the athlete has always relied on Technogym solutions; but there is one piece of equipment, in particular, that he states is his favourite for training. “My favourite Technogym product is definitely the Technogym Rack, and this is because I can use it for so many exercises: squats, chin ups, pull ups, and so many more”.
This Technogym product for strength training guarantees maximum safety and, at the same time, user-friendly barbell support locking and a smooth, fluid sliding movement of the safety bars: everything a champion like Leonardo needs for training.
Technogym has always been at his side in every training, competition and sporting experience; now it’s ready to support him on his journey to the five rings, giving him the best preparation possible to ride the waves in Tahiti. Good luck to him!
