[3] Castrignano was also selected to compete for the Italian taekwondo squad at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, where she placed fifth in the women's heavyweight category (+67 kg).

[1] In 1997, she won a gold medal over Great Britain's Joanne Lawrence in the heavyweight class at the European Junior Championships in Patras.

In the repechage, Castrignano salvaged from her quarterfinal loss to slam Canadian fighter and 2000 Olympic bronze medalist Dominique Bosshart at 7–3.

[7][8] At the 2007 World Taekwondo Championships in Beijing, China, Castrignano shared bronze medals with Chinese Taipei's Tsui Fang-hsuan in the over-72 kg class after her immediate defeat to local favorite and double Olympic champion Chen Zhong in the semifinals.

[3][9] Castrignano also sought her bid for the 2008 Summer Olympics, but she fell behind France's Anne Caroline Graffe in the quarterfinal match at the European Qualification Tournament in Baku, Azerbaijan.