After receiving a greater number of applications than ever before, ITU Development can confirm the twelve athletes who will be included on its scholarship programme for 2020.

The programme is designed to help Olympic prospects from developing National Federations (NF Group 1, 2, 3) who have already shown competence at a Continental and World level but will require additional support to help them make the step up to top-level training and racing.

This will be the first time that three scholarship holders from Africa – Badr Siwane (MAR), Basmla Elsalamoney (EGY) and Mehdi Essadiq (MAR) - will compete for the New Flag Olympic spot, while two Syrian athletes – Mohamad Alsabbagh and Mohamad Maso - have been nominated for the IOC Tripartite Invitation Places. 

“We were delighted to have received a total of 37 applications (20 men, 17 women) from all five continents (ASTC: 3, ATU: 6, ETU:10, OTU:1, PATCO: 17), and it was always going to be a difficult task to choose between so many worthy candidates,” said ITU Development Senior Manager Zita Csovelyak, “but the Selection Panel had to make its decision after a thorough review of the submissions, with Tokyo 2020 qualification prospects their main focus.”

The athletes selected for the scholarships are:  


Antoanela MANAC (ROU)

Badr SIWANE (MAR)

Basmla ELSALAMONEY (EGY)

Diego MOYA (CHI)

Juan Jose ANDRADE FIGUEROA (ECU)

Kaidi KIVIOJA (EST)

Felipe BARRAZA (CHI)

Mehdi ESSADIQ (MAR)

Mohamad ALSABBAGH (SYR)

Mohamad MASO (SYR)

Ognjen STOJANOVIC (SRB)

Romina BIAGIOLI (ARG)