At the World Championships in Barcelona, Cerioni reached the semi-finals, where he was defeated by teammate Andrea Cipressa. He fenced Germany's Harald Stein for the bronze medal, but was disqualified for unsportsmanlike behaviour. His bad temper got the best of him once again in the 1986 World Championships in Sofia: this time he received a full-year suspension after abusing the referees during his bout against Joachim Wendt. After his return to competition Cerioni won the 1987–88 Fencing World Cup. At the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul Cerioni defeated three-time World champion Aleksandr Romankov in the semi-finals, then East Germany's Udo Wagner, to earn the gold medal. The team ranked only 7th.