Valerio Cattabriga, degree, dual career and triathlon!

Wikipedia: “Triathlon is a multidisciplinary sport for individuals or teams. Since 2000 it has been a male and female Olympic specialty. It is divided into three tests that take place in immediate succession and are – although based on different distances depending on the category – common to all athletes: swimming, cycling and running.

For us of the LUISS Sports Association the triathlon is Valerio Cattabriga, year 1997, third year of the three-year degree in economics and management of LUISS.

“Now I am on a par with all the exams and my goal is to graduate next November with 3 precise years from the beginning of the lessons. Together with the university I am a 360-degree triathlon athlete (swimming, cycling, running). I train hard every day of the week for a total of 25 maximum 30 hours per week.

A hard work and a commitment that only with a specific sports program can lead to great results. “I chose LUISS by pure chance – Valerio tells us – I saw that they were taking the entry test in October 2015, when I was still in fifth grade. I had gone to the test without preparation because I had not yet chosen exactly what I wanted to do. The fact is that I passed that test. So once I passed and was informed about LUISS in general I decided to do it. I still had to do all the last year of the fifth year. In all this I was doing triathlon and so I knew that I had to find a way to reconcile university and sport. I asked for an appointment with the sports sector and they explained well how it was structured in that area and came out of there I was really convinced that it would be the right choice. For me it was and is very important to have support at a sports level because triathlon being a sport of resistance there are many hours of training every week (25/30 hours).

“At LUISS I immediately found a good environment where I found myself from the beginning well. But the first year was easier than expected and therefore I did not fully benefit from the LUISS Sport Program. Since the second year I have been very close to this program and I have to say that a lot of help is being given to me, especially the tutor Isabella who follows me on all the organizational aspects and with whom I have felt good since the beginning”.
What does Dual Career mean to you and what are your future prospects for sport and work?
“Dual Career is very important to me and to continue my sports and university life. I practice an endurance sport so the results a few times come immediately but there is a whole path to take in order to compete at the highest levels. Together with the triathlon, however, I want to carry on the university that for me is as important as the sport! I know that an athlete’s career will last a few years and then leave room for something else. This something else has to be built day after day as in sport with university life. So for me Dual Career means being able to reconcile sport and university at the same time. At this moment I started the third year of university and I will probably do the master in Marketing and I am on a par with the exams without going off class. From the work point of view I still have no precise prospects, I would like to remain in sport with a role in sports and then certainly I would like to work in tourism and catering. In sport I’m entering a crucial moment where I have to make a big leap in quality to be able to get then one day to compete with the first in the world. The goal is that, but I have to make this leap in quality that would allow me to have much greater prospects, but at this time I keep my feet on the ground and I think to build something important this winter to be able to do it in the next season (2019).

Tell us about your latest competitive successes
“This last season (2018) has been very difficult in some moments. My races are on Olympic distance (the queen discipline is the Olympic one and where I feel better) which takes place on 1500mt swimming, 40km cycling and finally 10km running of course all in a row for a total of just under 2h, then there is the sprint that is on the distance halved. From Tokyo 2020 there will also be a relay race over much shorter distances that takes place with 4 fractionists where each plays a triathlon (woman / man / woman / man). This year I made many weeks away from home in the rally (10 weeks) making many sacrifices. This was the season with my first European Triathlon Cup beginnings in the elite and therefore ageless category, with the real professionals. It was very difficult to compete because the world level is rising so much, so I know very well what it takes to get there and be able to compete with the firsts in the European Cup and then after raise the bar. At the end of the season, my first top ten in the absolute Italian championship arrived at Olympic distance, placing me 9 at an absolute level. Then we arrived with other 3 of my second teammates at the absolute Italian relay triathlon championship”