Nadia Battocletti

Nadia Battocletti Career

Nadia Battocletti was born in Cles, Italy. Her father is from Italy, and her mother is from Morocco. She grew up in Trentino, in northern Italy, and she later studied at the university at the University of Trento. Her father, Giuliano, is also her coach. Giuliana was a former distance runner himself, having won team gold at the 1998 European Cross Country Championships.

Nadia Battocletti now holds the Italian record in six events between indoor track, outdoor track, and road running.

She started running from a young age and achieved early success nationally in Italy. In 2016, at the age of 15, she won the Italian U18 championships in the 3000 meters. She would win the event again the next year, cutting her time from 9:59.02 to 9:44.46. Despite only being 16, she finished third at the European U20 Championships in the 3000 meters. Two years later, she earned silver in the 5000m with a time of 16:09.39. She also broke the Italian 3000-meter record that had stood for 40 years with a time of 9:04.46.

Although she seemed in good form heading into the 2020 season, she had to wait an extra year to attend her first Olympics due to the delay caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In Tokyo, she would go on to run 13:46.29 in the 5000 meters, finishing seventh as a 21-year-old.

More Records and Olympic Success

Over the next few years, Battocletti broke multiple Italian records. The first was the 3000-meter indoor record that had stood for almost 15 years when she ran a time of 8:41.72 on February 14, 2022. She then went on to break the national record in the two miles in Milan. A few days later, she broke the Italian 5-kilometer road race record.

Batocletti missed the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon due to shin splints. Despite finding out she had mononucleosis while at the European Championships that year in Munich, she still finished seventh in the 5000 meters.

Battocletti’s breakout success came at the 2024 Paris Olympics. She had already won the European Championship in the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter events in Rome several months before, but the top 10 times in the world rankings in both events were held by runners from Kenya or Ethiopia heading into the Olympics.

In the Olympic final of the 5000 meters, Battocletti finished fourth with a time of 14:31.64. She was temporarily upgraded to bronze when Faith Kipyegon was disqualified for obstruction. However, she was displaced back to fourth when Kipyegon was reinstated after an appeal.

After the emotional rollercoaster of receiving an Olympic medal and having it taken away again, Battocletti rallied a few days later to win silver in the 10,000 meters, setting a new Italian record with a time of 30:43.35. The world record holder, Beatrice Chebet, would take gold.  

Battocletti started her 2025 season strong, breaking her own Italian 3000-meter record at the Rabat Diamond League on May 25, running 8:26.27. On the way to the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo, she smashed all her personal bests in events ranging from 1,500 to 10,000 meters.

At the World Championships, she repeated her performance from the year before in Paris, finishing second behind Beatrice Chebet. A week later, she found herself on the podium again with a third-place finish in the 5,000-meter, behind Chebet and Faith Kipyegon.

Nadia Battocletti Personal Life

Battocletti’s father and coach, Giuliano, is a former Italian middle-distance champion, and her mother Jahwara was a runner in Morocco. Nadia Battocletti grew up in Cavareno, but after high school went to Trento to study engineering and architecture.

In her free time, Battocletti likes to listen to music and loves reading novels.

In a 2023 article on World Athletics, it was reported that she typically logs 80 to 90 kilometers of running per week, while in the winter she may go as high as 100 kilometers. This training volume is lower than many of her competitors.

She frequents Font Romeu in the French Pyrenees for altitude training.

FAQS | Battocletti Nadia

Where is Nadia Battocletti From?

Nadia Battocletti is from Cles, Italy, located in the province of Trentino. She grew up in Cavareno and later moved to Trento for university. Her dad is from Italy, and her mother was born in Morocco.  

Who is Nadia Battocletti’s Father?

Nadia Battocletti’s father is Giuliano Battocletti, who won the World U20 bronze medal in 1994 in the 5000-meter. Her mother, Jawhara Saddougui, was born in Morocco and has run a world-class time of 2:01 in the 800 meters.