Athletic Achievers

Passionate about auto racing since his go-kart days as a kid, Chip Ganassi has emerged as a dominant force on most of the sport’s major racetracks. After more than 30 years in car racing, Chip Ganassi boasts an impressive resume. The team he owns has won the Indianapolis 500, Daytona 500, Brickyard 400, Rolex 24 at Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring and 24 Hours of Le Mans. The 64-year-old is owner and CEO of Chip Ganassi Racing, which operates teams in the IndyCar Series, WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, FIA World Endurance Championship and Extreme-E off-road racing. The enterprise has corporate offices …

A standout wrestler in high school and now college, Carter Starocci success has been driven by his dauntless work ethic. There are competitive people — and then there is Carter Starocci. The 21-year-old junior at Pennsylvania State University is the reigning two-time NCAA champion wrestler in the 174-pound weight class. In October, he took home a bronze medal in the freestyle 79-kilogram category at the U-23 World Championships in Spain. Staroccci has his sights set on many more victories, including NCAA titles, a world championship and an Olympic gold. Then, he plans to embark on a career competing in the …

Among the best in the rarified and highly dangerous world of speed skiing, Ivan and Simone Origone risk life and limb to hurtle down slopes at close to 160 miles per hour. Two Italian brothers are trailblazers in speed skiing, often described as the fastest non-motorized sport on Earth. Simone Origone, 43, is the most decorated speed skier of all time, with a resume that encompasses 13 World Cup wins, including the last one in 2022. His brother, Ivan, 35, holds the speed skiing world record, which he set in 2016 at 158.424 miles per hour. Speed skiing takes place …

A member of the Chicago Red Stars for her entire professional career, Vanessa DiBernardo has notched the team record for minutes played while setting her sights on a so-far elusive league championship. For Vanessa DiBernardo, the path to professional soccer involved honing her strong technical skills under the guidance of her father. The 30-year-old is a midfielder for the Chicago Red Stars in the National Women’s Soccer League. A native of Naperville, Illinois, she attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which inducted her into its athletics hall of fame in 2020. Her father, Angelo DiBernardo, was a professional soccer …

Describing himself as an “old-school” coach, Jared Grasso has transformed the basketball program at Bryant University in four short years. Bryant University men’s basketball head coach Jared Grasso could see with his own eyes the change he ignited in his first season. “My first game, there were 15 people in the crowd — three were my family, and three were the assistant coach’s family. I remember standing there during the national anthem, half embarrassed,” the 42-year-old says of the 2018-19 season at the Rhode Island school. “By the end of the season, we had sellout crowds. Students were waiting five …

A star in Italy’s top basketball league, Sara Bocchetti heart is set on one day competing in the WNBA. For Italian basketball star Sara Bocchetti, it was love at first sight, when she was introduced to the sport as a baby, before she could even walk. “My brother was given a basket for his birthday. Since I saw that basket, I started to hear its call. I had to make a basket, even if I wasn’t walking yet!” Bocchetti says. The 5-foot-9-inch guard plays for Use Scotti Rosa Empoli in the Serie A1, the top basketball league in Italy. Two …

A state champion runner in high school, Micaela DeGenero lost her way as an undergrad at the University of Michigan before rediscovering her groove as a graduate student at the University of Colorado. Of all the times to seize an NCAA title, this was the most improbable for Micaela DeGenero. DeGenero won the women’s indoor mile race in March after emerging from the back of the pack to obliterate her competition with a time of 4:33.92. The now-24-year-old ran with the University of Colorado, where she was a graduate student working toward a master’s degree in technology, cybersecurity and policy. …

Never inclined to take the wheel of a rally sports car, Alex Gelsomino has thoroughly enjoyed his view from the passenger seat as a professional co-driver. Rally co-driver Alex Gelsomino says he’s lucky to have had a nearly three-decade career in a sport that has allowed him to travel the world and given him the gift of meeting his wife. The 48-year-old started his professional journey at age 18 when he took a co-driver course in his hometown of Palermo, Sicily. He did his first rally race a couple of weeks later and spent the next three years learning the …

An All-American softball player in college, Maria Vallone is now excelling at a sport with an obscure past and a promising future. Like most people in the United States, Maria Vallone’s only experience with handball had been playing a little bit during gym class. Then, at age 25, she fell in love with the sport and ended up excelling at it. Vallone, now 30, plays left wing for the U.S. national women’s team. Her resume includes a team fourth place finish at the 2019 Pan American Games — the best result for an American team, men’s or women’s, in many …

Involved in multiple sports as a child, Stefania Constantini gradually forsook all others on her way to the upcoming Winter Olympics as a member of the Italian curling team. Italian national team curler Stefania Constantini grew up in Cortina d’Ampezzo, a mountain town well known for winter sports in Veneto’s southern Alps. As a little girl, she swam, played tennis, skied and even danced hip hop, but it was curling that stole her heart at age 8. “The moment I started playing curling, a spark ignited,” the 22-year-old says. “I began to get more and more passionate, and slowly I …