“I love athletics because it is poetry | If I dream at night, | I dream of being a marathoner.”

So wrote Nobel Prize-winning poet Eugenio Montale, himself inspired, like millions of Italians before and after him, by the lyrical weight of the race once run by Pheidippides. 

If those verses could take human form today, they might well resemble Iliass Aouani: the most contemporary standard-bearer of an ancient Italian tradition. A people’s dream, now embodied by a nearly 30-year-old born in Morocco and raised in the working-class outskirts of Brianza. In the minimalist sprawl of modern Tokyo, Aouani gave that dream new breath.

His World Championship bronze was no sudden miracle. It was the result of a natural progression: quietly methodical, and deeply earned. First came the sporting epiphany, inspired by the forgotten giants whose footsteps he followed. Then came the discipline of American collegiate athletics, paired with the marathon universities of Milan and Ferrara. Education became his companion as much as endurance. And eventually, came the breakthrough: the kind that not only defines a career, but reshapes a narrative. 

At the heart of it all lies an identity composed by the best of both worlds: the richness of multiculturalism, and the profound introspection of the marathon itself, a paradoxical space where suffering meets transcendence, competition becomes contemplation, and the human spirit is both tested and revealed. 

Love. Poetry. Dream. Reality. And a voice: clear, composed, unwavering. Just hours after his feat in Tokyo, we sat down with the ASICS athlete, now a newly anointed symbol of Italian sport. But Aouani has never been content to simply run. With calm conviction, he reminds us that the depth of the marathon reflects the depth of life itself. It is a timeless truth, passed down through the unchanging soul of the sport, and now carried forward by an athlete with miles in his legs, and just as many thoughts in his mind.

You came to running relatively late. When did you realize this sport could become something meaningful: something that could eventually lead you to become a European champion and a World medalist?

“I realized I was suited for this sport when I saw how well it aligned with who I am: with my personality, my competitiveness, my need to constantly test and stretch my limits. Over time, I also found that longer distances, endurance races, were where I naturally excelled. Year after year, I built upon those strengths and slowly shaped the athlete I am today. That path ultimately brought me to this beautiful bronze medal.”

Your athletic development passed through some of Italy’s most prestigious schools, like those in Milan and Ferrara. What does it mean for you to represent and affirm the great Italian tradition of long-distance running—especially on a stage like the World Championships?

“Italy has a deeply respected marathon tradition, internationally speaking. We’ve had legendary athletes like Bordin, Baldini, Meucci, and icons like Pizzolato and Leone, who both won in New York. The Italian school of distance running is admired worldwide. Earning the right to place my name alongside those greats is anything but easy. The bar has been set incredibly high. That legacy is an enormous source of motivation. I’m truly proud to follow in their footsteps: and maybe, now, to walk beside them.”

You hold a degree in Civil Engineering. Do your academic skills influence the way you relate to running in any way? And how much study and planning goes into preparing for a World Championship?

“Balancing academics and elite-level sport teaches you a lot of intangible skills that shape you into the professional athlete you become. Time management, discipline… All of those things are necessary, and they’re training tools in their own right. When the pressure builds, whether in training or in the race itself, that mental preparation rises to the surface.”

You were born in Morocco, and even though you moved to Italy at a very young age, do you feel that there are still elements—ethical, philosophical, or athletic—from your country of origin that have shaped who you are as both an athlete and a person? And how do you feel about being seen as an icon of a multicultural Italy?

“I was born in Morocco and raised in Italy, and I truly feel like the product of both worlds. I carry my Moroccan heritage with pride: the language I speak at home with my parents, the flavors of the food my mother prepares, the cultural rhythms I grew up around. But I’ve also absorbed so much from Italian culture: how I speak, how I think, how I live. Sometimes I feel I don’t fully belong to either world, and sometimes I feel completely part of both. But I know, without a doubt, that I’ve inherited the best from each.”