Umberto Zanolini was a member of the “Victoria” club in his hometown Brescia. He competed at the national level in all-around competitions finishing on second place in a pentathlon at the 1911 federal competition in Turin. In 1912, he was called up for the pre-Olympic training camp in Brescia and eventually selected for the team event. The Italian team that dominated the team event in the European System, which focussed on apparatus exercises, winning gold. After returning from Stockholm, Zanolini continued his career but without achieving any further top results and eventually disappeared from the lists completely.