Maria Benedicta Chigbolu (born 27 July 1989) is an Italian sprinter, who specializes in the 400 metres. She competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics, in 4 × 400 m relay.
Biography Maria Chigbolu was born in Rome to an Italian mother and a Nigerian father. She has five siblings. Her grandfather Julius Chigbolu was a Nigerian athlete, who competed at the 1956 Summer Olympics, and later became president of Athletics Federation of Nigeria. She is engaged with the Italian sprinter Matteo Galvan.
Career Besides medals in the 400 metres and relays from the 2013 and 2018 Mediterranean Games, Chigbolu won a bronze in the individual event at the 2016 European Championships.
She was a member of the 2016 Olympics squad, which set the Italian national record at the 4x400 metres with a time of 3:25.16 sec.
Chigbolu took bronze medals at the 2019 World Relays (), and at the 2019 European Team Championships (400 m and ).
At the Italian Championships, she won 1 time in the 400 metres (2017), 8 times in the relay, and twice in the indoor relays (, ).
Achievements International competitions Year Competition Venue Position Event Time Notes2013Mediterranean GamesMersin, Turkey2nd400 m52.661st3.32.44World ChampionshipsMoscow, Russia (final)170.62014European ChampionshipsZürich, Switzerland7th3:31.312015European Indoor ChampionshipsPrague, Czech Republic(heats)400 m54.17World ChampionshipsBeijing, China(heats)400 m52.48(heats)3:27.07SBDécaNationParis, France5th400 m52.812016European ChampionshipsAmsterdam, Netherlands(semifinals)400 m52.693rd3:27.49SBOlympic GamesRio de Janeiro, Brazil(heats)400 m52.065th3.27.05( h)2017European Indoor ChampionshipsBelgrade, Serbia4th3:32.87European Team ChampionshipsLille, France4th400 m52.36World ChampionshipsLondon, United Kingdom(heats)400 m53.00(heats)3:27.81SB2018Mediterranean GamesTarragona, Spain3rd400 m52.141st3:28.08European ChampionshipsBerlin, Germany(semifinals)400 m52.265th3:28.622019IAAF World RelaysYokohama, Japan3rd3:27.74SBEuropean Team ChampionshipsBydgoszcz, Poland3rd400 m52.193rd3:27.32SBWorld ChampionshipsDoha, Qatar(heats)400 m52.63(heats)3:27.57
National individual competitions Italian Championships 400 m: (1) 2017
See also Italian all-time lists - 400 metres Italian national track relay team
References
External links