Picture, dated July 16, 2025, reveals Italian orienteering athlete Mattia Debertolis. — Instagram/@mattia_debertolis
CHENGDU: Italian orienteering athlete Mattia Debertolis died on Tuesday after being discovered unresponsive throughout competitors on the World Video games in China’s Chengdu, organisers stated.
The 29-year-old was found unconscious throughout an orienteering occasion on August 8 and died 4 days later, stated a joint assertion from World Video games organisers and the Worldwide Orienteering Federation (IOF).
The World Video games is a multisport occasion held each 4 years for disciplines not included within the Olympics.
“Despite receiving immediate expert medical care at one of China’s leading medical institutions, he passed away,” the assertion stated.
It didn’t present particulars on the reason for demise.
The occasion came about in intense warmth and humidity, with temperatures above 30 levels.
Orienteering sees athletes navigate an unmarked course with a map and compass, punching in at designated spots alongside the route within the quickest time.
Debertolis, from Primiero in japanese Italy, was collaborating within the ultimate of the boys’s middle-distance, the primary medal occasion of the Video games.
The six-kilometre (3.7 miles) course featured 180 metres of ascent and 20 management factors that athletes should go to.
Footage from the World Video games’ social media accounts confirmed athletes operating by means of crop fields and villages on a largely rural course.
The winner, Switzerland’s Riccardo Rancan, accomplished the course in 45 minutes and 22 seconds.
“I needed to acclimatise quickly with hot and humid conditions. I think I managed quite well,” Chinese language state media quoted Rancan as saying.
Debertolis was listed as “Did Not Finish” in official outcomes, together with 11 different athletes.
Black armbands
He was ranked 137th within the males’s Orienteering World Rankings and had been competing since 2014, in accordance with the IOF web site.
Picture, dated July 16, 2025, reveals Italian orienteering athlete Mattia Debertolis. — Instagram/@mattia_debertolis
He participated in a number of World Championships and World Cups as a part of the Italian group.
Alongside his coaching, Debertolis was learning for a PhD on the KTH Royal Institute of Know-how in Stockholm, the place he lived.
President of the Italian Orienteering Federation (FISO), Alfio Giomi, invited the nationwide group to put on black armbands whereas competing within the World Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships, which start on Tuesday in Poland.
