Lorenzo Minh Casali (born 12 September 2002) is an Italian

artistic gymnast Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different types of apparatus. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which assigns the '' Code of Points'' used ...

. He was part of the gold medal-winning team at the 2023 European Championships and is the 2024 Italian National Champion. He represented

Italy at the 2024 Summer Olympics Italy competed at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris from 26 July to 11 August 2024. Italian athletes have appeared in every Summer Olympic Games, Summer Olympics edition of the modern era, with the disputed exception of the 1904 Summer Olympics, ...

Personal life

Casali was born in

Hanoi Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...

in 2002. He spent the first five months of his life at an orphanage before being adopted by Stefano and Stefania Casali, an Italian couple.

Junior gymnastics career

Casali was selected to represent Italy at the inaugural Junior World Championships alongside Lorenzo Bonicelli and Ivan Brunello. Together they won the bronze medal as a team. Individually Casali placed eighth in the all-around and fifth on floor exercise. He next competed at the 2019 European Youth Olympic Festival where he helped Italy once again win bronze.

Senior gymnastics career

2021–2022

Casali made his senior international debut at the 2021 European Championships; during qualifications he placed fourteenth in the all-around but did not qualify to the final due to compatriots

Nicola Bartolini Nicola Bartolini (born 7 February 1996) is an Italian Artistic gymnastics, artistic gymnast. He is the 2021 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, 2021 World Champion and 2021 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships, 2021 European bronze med ...

and Stefano Patron ranking higher. He next competed at the Koper World Challenge Cup, qualifying to the floor exercise and parallel bars finals. He finished eighth and fourth respectively. Casali competed at the 2022 DTB Pokal Team Challenge and the

2022 European Championships The 2022 European Championships were the second edition of the European Championships (multi-sport event), European Championships. It was a multi-sport event which took place in Munich, Germany from 11 to 21 August 2022. The event started three d ...

, helping Italy win silver at both. Individually Casali placed seventh in the all-around at the European Championships. Later that year Casali was selected to represent Italy at his first

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

alongside Yumin Abbadini,

Carlo Macchini Carlo Macchini (born 5 May 1996) is an Italian artistic gymnast. He is the 2023 European horizontal bar silver medalist. He represented Italy at the 2024 Summer Olympics. Early life Macchini was born on 5 May 1996 in Ancona. When he was four ...

, and Matteo Levantesi. The team finished fourth and individually Casali finished thirteenth in the all-around.

2023–2024

Casali competed at the 2023 European Championships alongside Yumin Abbadini, Matteo Levantesi,

Marco Lodadio Marco Lodadio (born 24 March 1992) is an Italian artistic gymnast. He is a two-time silver medalist in the rings at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships and the gold medalist in this event at the 2019 European Games held in Minsk, Belarus. ...

, and Mario Macchiati. Together they won Italy its first European team gold medal. At the 2023 World Championships Casali helped Italy finish eighth as a team. As a result, they qualified a full team to the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

for the first time since 2012. Casali competed at the 2024 DTB Pokal Team Challenge where he helped Italy finish second behind the United States. The following month Casali competed at the

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

where he helped Italy win bronze behind Ukraine and Great Britain. In July of that year Casali competed at the Italian national championships. He won the all-around and was named Italian National Champion for the first time in his career. That same weekend he was selected to represent Italy at the 2024 Olympic Games alongside Yumin Abbadini,

, Mario Macchiati, and

2025

Casali competed at the 2025 DTB Pokal Team Challenge where he helped Italy finish third. Although the all-around was not contested, he earned the third highest all-around score. During event finals he won silver on floor exercise behind

Artem Dolgopyat Artem Olegovich Dolgopyat (; ; born 16 June 1997) is a Ukrainian-born Israeli artistic gymnast who specializes in the floor exercise. He is the 2020 Olympic champion and the 2023 World champion in the floor exercise. He also won two sil ...

, bronze on rings behind

Wataru Tanigawa is a Japanese artistic gymnast. He won a gold medal with the Japanese team at the 2024 Summer Olympics and a silver medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics. At the 2022 World Championships, he won a silver medal in the team event and a bronze medal i ...

and Riley Loos, and placed fourth on parallel bars. Casali next competed at the Osijek World Cup where he won silver on parallel bars and placed seventh on horizontal bar. Casali competed at the 2025 European Championships where he helped Italy win the bronze medal. He qualified to compete in the inaugural mixed team event alongside

Manila Esposito Manila Esposito (born 2 November 2006) is an Italian artistic gymnast. She was a member of the silver medal winning team at the 2024 Olympic Games where she also won a bronze medal on the balance beam. She is a two-time European all-around champi ...

; together they placed third behind Germany's

Timo Eder Timo Eder (born 11 June 2005) is a German artistic gymnastics, artistic gymnast. He is the 2023 Junior World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, 2023 Junior World silver medalist on floor exercise. He represented Germany at the 2024 Summer Olym ...

and

Karina Schönmaier Karina Schönmaier (born 4 August 2005) is a German artistic gymnast. She is the 2025 European Champion on vault. Gymnastics career 2022–2024 In 2022 Schönmaier competed at the DTB Pokal Team Challenge where she won bronze on vault. L ...

and Great Britain's

Jake Jarman Jake Elmer Jarman (born 3 December 2001) is a British artistic gymnast from Peterborough, competing internationally for Great Britain, and for England at the Commonwealth Games. In his first major senior championships, the 2022 Commonwealth Game ...

and

Ruby Evans Ruby Grace Evans (born 17 March 2007) is a Welsh artistic gymnast and a member of the British national team. She was part of the silver-medal winning team at the 2024 European Championships and is a five-time Northern European champion. She ...

. During event finals Casali won his first individual European medal, earning bronze on floor exercise.

Competitive history

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Casali, Lorenzo Minh 2002 births Living people Italian male artistic gymnasts 21st-century Italian sportsmen Medalists at the Junior World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Mediterranean Games silver medalists for Italy Mediterranean Games medalists in gymnastics Gymnasts at the 2022 Mediterranean Games European champions in gymnastics Italian people of Vietnamese descent Sportspeople of Vietnamese descent Sportspeople from Ancona Sportspeople from Hanoi Italian adoptees Gymnasts at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic gymnasts for Italy Gymnasts of Fiamme Oro