Italian gymnast Lorenzo Bonicelli has been transferred to the spinal unit of Niguarda Hospital in Milan, according to a post on social media from the Ghislanzoni Gal Sports Club of Lecco, where he trained as a youngster.
On 23 July, during the FISU 2025 World University Games in the Rhine-Ruhr region, Bonicelli, 23, sustained a neck injury while performing a triple flipping dismount off the still rings during the qualifying round.
He underwent surgery in Germany to reduce a cervical sprain trauma with subluxation of the fifth vertebra, and a tracheotomy was performed to help him breathe. He was later moved to a hospital in Milan where he began to communicate and eat on his own.
On Wednesday (27 August) “after weeks in intensive care, Bonni was transferred to the Spinal Unit of Niguarda Hospital,” reads a post on Instagram from Ghislanzoni Gal, which launched a fundraising campaign to support his rehabilitation journey.
“It’s an important step – the first step of a long and complex path that will require time, strength and patience. At his side are the doctors, his family, friends and an entire community that continues to show its closeness,” the post continued.
Since his transfer from Germany to Italy, Bonicelli has been accompanied by his family and his girlfriend Lisa Rigamonti, a former gymnast and now a nurse, who in recent days provided further updates on his condition.
“He will begin motor physiotherapy once the vital aspects being monitored in intensive care are stabilised,” she told La Gazzetta dello Sport on 20 August. “Only then, in the spinal unit, will we face the other stages of this journey. Only from that day will we focus on physical rehabilitation.”