Laura Lorenzato| Faces of FEB

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The Faculty of Economics and Business is a faculty with a great diversity of people who all have an impact, big or small, on science and society. But who are these people? Within ‘Faces of FEB’ we connect with different students, staff members and researchers of the faculty and give a little peek into their world. This edition: Laura Lorenzato, former FEB student, and now a professional speed skater for Italy.

1. Can you tell a bit about yourself?

I am Laura Lorenzato, an Italian speed skater from Venice. After graduating high school in Italy in 2017, I moved to the Netherlands to study at the University of Groningen. Since I was young, I always knew I wanted to study abroad to experience life outside Italy. However, I also wanted to progress in my top sports career, as in 2017 I had just become junior world medalist in inline skating. Inline skating unfortunately is not an Olympic sport, so I decided to attempt the switch to ice speed skating to follow my Olympic dream. The Netherlands was the ideal location to progress on the ice, while at the same time studying at a top ranked university. For this reason, I studied in Groningen from 2017 to 2023 while living in Heerenveen to train in the Thialf Speed Skating arena.

I have always had ambitions in both sport and career, so I have always been convinced that I wanted to study and graduate while at the same time improve in my sports. I have also always been very conscious that being an athlete does not last forever, and it is important to also have other things in life to work towards to build a future for yourself and to be stimulated in other ways.

I just turned 25 years old and in April last year I graduated from the Faculty of Business and Economics (FEB). I have been part of the Italian inline national team since 2015 and after switching to ice skating, just after graduating from FEB, I was recruited to join the Italian team for ice speed skating in 2023. At the moment I am a full-time athlete.

2. What did you study at FEB?

I studied the pre-MSc. in Marketing and the MSc. in Marketing Analytics and Data Science.

3. How did you experience your time at our faculty?

I would describe my time at the faculty as challenging but at the same time rewarding. It took me a couple of months to understand how to approach the study and combine it with my busy training schedule. However once I understood how to go about it, I also found that my efforts were always rewarded.

I discovered that in being proactive, communicating my needs to other students and professors, they were always willing to help me find solutions to fit my sports schedule with my university schedule. In my experience, the professors were always willing to help me put together the pieces I needed to achieve my goals in my studies and were always flexible enough to accommodate by needs as long as I worked hard and made sure to make communication a priority. The relationships I made with other students were also fundamental, as I met many international students that became my friends. They were incredibly supportive of my sports career and always made sure we were able to work effectively in group settings. Lastly, I was also able to combine my sports and studies very well, because I often used breaks between lectures to train in the gym on campus, which allowed me to save time very often.

4. How did you experience Groningen?

Unfortunately, I couldn't experience the student life to its fullest as I was living in Heerenveen and training most of the time. However, I did meet so many wonderful friends with whom I bonded incredibly. Whenever I could, I took the chance to take part in social events in Groningen which were so welcoming for international students. Whenever I had a free weekend from races I always took the chance to spend some time in Groningen, as there was always something going on in town.

I experienced Groningen as an incredibly international town. I met so many friends who opened my eyes to their cultures and different ways of thinking. I did make sure I took time to enjoy life with them, have amazing intercultural meals together as well as social and cultural events organized in Groningen, which made my stay there fun and stimulating.

5. You’re a professional speed skater. Can you tell us a bit more about that?

Since I graduated in the spring of 2023, I have become a full-time athlete. But also during my studies training was one of my main priorities.

As a student I was training in the morning from 7.30 to 9.30h. After that I used to drive to Groningen to attend lectures during the day or go home to study individually. In the afternoon I trained again from 17 to 19h, unless I had a gap between lectures and could workout on campus.  

My speed skating career started with skating marathons in the Netherlands, with my team 'A6 Groot in Autos'. This made me improve physically and technically over the years. During these years I continued slowly but steadily to work towards improving in long track speed skating. As a result, last year I won the Italian national championships on the 5km race.

This season I switched completely to long track speed skating for the Italian national team as it is an Olympic discipline. Since October 2023, I have competed in 6 world cups in Asia, Europe and North America, I have competed at the European Championships and I recently competed at the World Championships (February 2024).

Overall I want to thank the University of Groningen and my professors who gave me the opportunity to reach my sports goals and my study goals in such an effective way, making my experience in the past years really enjoyable! I am proud to be a FEB alumni and will forever be grateful to the university.