The roar of Giovanni De Gennaro: Italian victory in K1 and a quartet of golds at the Games for Italia Team

A triumphant cry and arms raised to the sky for Giovanni De Gennaro at the Olympic course of the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium.

Indeed, at the Paris 2024 Games, the exceptional athlete from Brescia (photo Luca Pagliaricci/CONI) secured the gold medal in the K1 slalom with a commanding final run. He gifted the Italia Team their third Olympic triumph in this discipline, following in the footsteps of Pierpaolo Ferrazzi (Barcelona 1992) and Daniele Molmenti (London 2012).

It was an exceptional performance by the reigning European champion, who, after breezing through the two preliminary runs and securing the eighth-fastest time in the semi-finals (93.47 with a 2” penalty), almost achieved perfection in the final run, finishing with the outstanding time of 88.22 (0 penalties). Behind him were the host nation’s Titouan Castryck (88.42, 0 penalties) and Spain’s Pau Echaniz (88.87 with a 2” penalty).

For Italy, this represents the 14th medal of this Olympic Games and the fourth gold following those won by Nicolò Martinenghi (100 breaststroke), Thomas Ceccon (100 backstroke), and the women's épée team.