Anita Protti, Ajla Del Ponte, Emma Van Camp: one passion, one meeting

They may be from different generations, at least the youngest and the oldest, but Emma Van Camp, Ajla Del Ponte and Anita Protti share two things in common: a passion for athletics and a special connection to Athletissima, a thread that runs through each of their careers. Here are selected moments from a roundtable discussion held on 13 June during a press event in Lausanne.

As an official ambassador for the meeting, Ajla Del Ponte opened with some good news. After two injury-plagued seasons, she plans to return to the track in July, and of course, to compete at Athletissima on 20 August, especially in the 4×100 m relay. “The crowd is always on their feet for that race. There’s so much emotion, it really pushes us to go faster. You see familiar faces in the stands,” said the ^fifth-place finisher in the 100 m final at the Tokyo 2021 Olympics and European Indoor 60 m champion

Eight years younger, Emma Van Camp, now 20, has recently made a name for herself, earning her first major senior selections as part of Switzerland’s 4×100 m relay team at the World Relay Championships in Guangzhou and at the European Indoors in Apeldoorn, where she reached the semi-finals of the 60 m. In China, the Lausanne-Sports athlete from Valais helped the team qualify for the World Championships in Tokyo this September. “When I was younger, I used to watch the 4×100 m girls like Ajla and Mujinga Kambundji. That really inspired me and made me want to be part of the team one day,” she explained.

Anita Protti didn’t have the relay to drive her forward, but Athletissima played a key role in her journey too. “Setting the Swiss 400 m record at La Pontaise in 1987 was a huge moment. And of course, finishing ^second in the 400 m hurdles behind the star Sandra Farmer-Patrick, that was a race the crowd was really waiting for, and they carried me all the way,” recalled the 1990 European silver medallist in the 400 m hurdles, who held the national record in the event for 28 years. “After I retired, I came back to Athletissima every year, as a spectator.”