Italian rising athletics star Kelly Doualla set a new European U18 best time for the 60m

Italian athlete Kelly Doualla set the fastest 60m time in Europe for the under-18 girls’ event after winning first place at the Memorial Giovannini, a World Athletics Indoor Tour Challenger meeting, in Ancona. The rising Italian athletics star, whose parents are from Cameroon, turned 15 in November.

Kelly Doualla won the race convincingly in 7.23 sec. She also fell just 3 hundredths of a second short of qualifying for the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, from March 6-9.

The previous European under-18 record was 7.24 seconds, by the Dutch sprinter N’Ketia Seedo. This also placed her fourth on the all-time senior Italian list behind only Zaynab Dosso, Marisa Masullo and Manuela Levorato.

Born in Italy in 2009, Kelly Doualla will be eligible to compete at the European Under-20 Championships in Tampere this summer and will also be young enough to compete at the European Under-18 Championships on home soil in Rieti in 2026.