An emerging talent in athletics, Kelly Doualla is a young Italian sprinter, born in Pavia in 2009 to parents from Cameroon, with whom she lives in Sant'Angelo Lodigiano. A gold medallist in the 100 metres at the European Under-20 Championships in Tampere, Finland, in 2025, she became the youngest ever winner over the distance, entering the history of European athletics at just 15 years and 261 days old. Thus came the definitive consecration: Kelly Doualla is now considered one of the most promising Italian sprinters. On her debut in blue at the European Youth Olympic Festival 2025, she set a new European U18 record in the 100 metres, rewriting the best youth times in Italy. The best performances in the category, both U18 and U20, at national level were already hers before that 11.21 with which she took the continental record. "I knew I could do well but I could do better," said the speedy champion at the Trento Sports Festival, in a talk entitled "The daughter of the wind", an honorary reference to the legend Carl Lewis, in a pressing but fresh and at times hilarious dialogue with Chiara Soldi, a journalist from the Gazzetta dello Sport.
Publication date: 12/10/2025
