Italian Olympic champion Federica Pellegrini confirmed yesterday that she has split with her Italian coach Federico Bonifacenti.

Bonifacenti, her third coach since the death of her former trainer and mentor Alberto Castagnetti in 2009, officially said he breaks off because of difficulties in travelling from Rome to Verona weekly.

In 2010 Pellegrini began to work with Italian coach Stefano Morini but that relationship fizzled and her performance deteriorated.

Then in 2011 she was coached by Philippe Lucas until the end of the Worlds in Shanghai.