Pietro Sighel is one of the most exciting Short Track skaters Italy has ever produced. He is all about raw speed, and after a couple of seasons of promising great things on the ISU World Cup circuit, made his major breakthrough in 2022-23.
The Trento racer put in the best performance of his career this time last year in Gdansk, Poland. He’d previously been a threat in the 500m, grabbing silver at the 2021 Euros, and two World Cup bronzes – but never climbed to the top of a podium.
At the 2023 European Championships, however, that all changed. Sighel hit the front early and turned on a scorching pace to get his first senior gold. “It is my best moment and I will try to keep it going,” he said afterwards.
Keep going he did: Sighel topped that performance by winning World Championship 500m gold in Seoul a few months later.
Now the Italian is a marked man. There are other brilliant 500m racers like Steven Dubois (CAN), Shaoang and Shaolin Sandor Liu (CHN) and Park Ji Won (KOR) in the field, but they all know to fear and respect the Italian rocket.
Here, he tells us about the influence of his Short Track World Champion dad, his dedication and strength, and his love of a certain Italian motorcycle rider…
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