Two-time MotoGP champion Francesco Bagnaia and former tennis US Open winner Flavia Pennetta will be among the first people to carry the Olympic torch for the upcoming Milan-Cortina Winter Games, organisers said on Friday.
The pair will accompany the torch during part of its trip around Italy, which will begin on December 6 in Rome ahead of the Winter Olympics and finish at the opening ceremony in Milan's San Siro stadium two months later.
Bagnaia is currently one of Italy's best-known sporting figures as the 2022 and 2023 champion in motorcycling's leading class of racing, with both titles won on Ducati bikes.
Pennetta, now 43 and a tennis pundit, was once ranked No 6 in the world and also won doubles titles at the Australian Open and WTA Finals.
A variety of other locally-famous personalities will carry the torch, including Dario Pivirotto who also did so for the Cortina d'Ampezzo Games in 1956 and in Turin in 2006.
As per tradition, the Olympic torch will be lit at the Temple of Hera in Olympia, Greece, on November 26 before being taken to Athens for a handover ceremony which is scheduled for December 4.
Once in Italy the torch will be followed by some 10 000 people and travel 12 000 kilometres around the Mediterranean nation, visiting some of its most famous places like Pompei and Lake Como.
It will pass through Cortina, where a host of alpine events will be held during the Games, on January 26 before making its way towards its final destination of Milan.