Ayomide Folorunso holds Italian national record holder in women’s 400 hurdles, and also holds a share in national records with the 4×400m relays outdoors and indoors, plus she has led the national team as captain at the last World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow.
Now she hopes to make her mark at the upcoming Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships scheduled from June 7-12.
Magical atmosphere
The 27 year old Italian hurdler, said that she cannot wait to compete at the Foro Italico Park: “It will be wonderful to run at home, in such a beautiful stadium like the Olimpico.
“The Golden Gala in Rome is already a highly significant event for friends, family, and all Italian athletics fans, I can’t imagine what is going to happen for the European Athletics Championships,” said Folorunso, European U23 Champion in the 400 meter hurdles in Bydgoszcz, Poland, in 2017.
“The magical atmosphere we will find will push us to give our best and will give us the opportunity to test ourselves at the international level. It will be a dream.”
Constant improvement
Born in Nigeria, Ayomide, which means “my joy has arrived” in Nigerian, while Folorunso means “under the protection of God’s eyes”) has been living and training in Fidenza, near Parma since 2004.
Ayomide is the daughter of a religious teacher and a Pentecostal pastor and is attending medical university. She was 7th in the Munich 2022 European Athletics Championships and 6th in last year's World Athletics Championships in Budapest.
“My goal has never changed. It is to constantly improve. The desire, my prayer, is for the difficulties of last year to be resolved, and for the achievements reached in the past to serve as the solid base for this year,” she says.
“Track and field is a fairly individual sport, where often you are against yourself. However, behind every athlete, there’s always a collective effort, with dedicated staff guiding the athletes to reach their peak mental and physical conditions.
“When we come together as a group, the energy of each athlete among us multiplies. A teammate who performs well stimulates you and gives you strength.”
Bol mindset motivates
Among the opponents that Folorunso will face at the European Athletics Championships is Dutch world champion Femke Bol, with whom she shared a training base in South Africa in recent months.
“Working with such a talented girl and the group of internationally acclaimed athletes that gathered around her helped me understand how to train better: in addition to talent, there is an important mindset,” she noted.
“Over the years, I have observed Femke Bol a lot, when training ends, she always dedicates herself to specific sessions to strengthen certain parts of the body.
“Fortunately, it’s an approach I’ve adopted since I was young, but watching such a strong athlete made me understand that this is the right path. In order to improve, you must never neglect the details.”
Relay hopes
In addition to hurdles, Folorunso is also one of the pillars of the Italian 4×400 relay team, with which she has won silver (2023) and bronze (2019) at the European Athletics Indoor Championships.
“We are a very close-knit group, with a beautiful story. The medals we have won encourage us for the upcoming challenges and make us dream big.”
Roma 2024 is the next opportunity to make history again together with her Italian teammates.