2022 ITALIAN SPRING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- April 9th – April 13th
- Riccione, Italy
- LCM (50m)
- World Championships Qualifier
- Start List
- SwimSwam Italia Coverage
- LIVE RESULTS
Day 4 prelims of the Italian Spring Championships featured the men’s 100 fly, women’s 100 back, men’s 200 back, women’s 200 fly, men’s 200 breast, men’s 200 free, and women’s 50 free.
In the men’s 100 fly, Italian Record holder Piero Codia led the field with a 52.16. The swim was so-so for Codia, who holds the national record at 50.64. Behind Codia, the field was tightly packed. Federico Burdisso came in 2nd, swimming a 52.47, while Matteo Rivolta was 3rd in 52.58, and Christian Ferraro and Edoardo Valsecchi tied for 4th at 52.90.
Margherita Panziera led prelims of the women’s 100 back, swimming a 1:00.80. She was out the fastest in her heat, swimming a 29.80, but the real strength of her swim this morning was the 2nd 50, where she clocked a 31.70, the fastest split of anyone in the event this morning. After breaking the Italian Record in the 50 back, Silvia Scalia swam a 1:01.45 this morning, picking up the 2nd seed for tonight. Scalia flexed her speed this morning, swimming a 29.05 on the first 50 of the race.
In the men’s 200 back, heat 3 (of 4) was by far the quickest, featuring the top two swimmers of the morning. Jacopo Bietti and Matteo Restivo had a great race, swimming 2:00.74 and 2:00.85 respectively. Restivo was out a tiny bit faster, splitting 28.06 on the first 50 to Bietti’s 28.35. He still held the lead at the halfway point, but Bietti took over on the 3rd 50, flipping 0.20 seconds ahead of Restivo at the 150m mark.
Ilaria Cusinato looked great through the first 100 meters of the women’s 200 fly, but fell off the pace a little bit on the back end. Nonetheless, she clocked the fastest time of the morning, swimming a 2:12.79. Cusinato was out in 1:02.78, but after splitting 33.45 on the 2nd 50, she split 34.48 and 35.53 on the final two 50s, bringing her up over 2:10 pace. Winning the final hear, Alessia Polieri swam a more consistent race, splitting 34.25, 34.96, and 34.27 on the final 3 50s, ultimately posting the 2nd fastest time of the morning with a 2:13.40.
The final heat of the men’s 200 breast saw the 4 fastest swims of the morning. Luca Pizzini established an early lead and was able to hold on, touching first in 2:13.33. Right behind him was Alessandro Fusco, who swam a 2:13.72. Coming in 3rd in the heat and 3rd overall was Cosimo Bugli, who swam a 2:14.45.
In a pair of fantastic morning swims, Stefano Di Cola and Gabriele Detti, both swimming in heat 3 of 5, posted 1:47-points for the top 2 times of the morning in the men’s 200 free. Di Cola was out 0.67 seconds faster on the first 100, but was able to hold of Detti on the back half. Detti, a premier distance swimmer in the world currently, was able to come home 0.40 seconds faster on the final 50, but it wasn’t quite enough to overcome the lead Di Cola had built. Di Cola finished in 1:47.47, while Detti was 1:47.66. With 9 men swimming under 1:49 this morning, the 200 free final will surely be a thriller tonight.
The final event of the morning saw Silvia Di Pietro post a 24.97 to easily land the top seed for tonight’s final. Di Pietro won her heat by 0.60 seconds and was the fastest in the event this morning by 0.55 seconds, setting her up quite favorably for tonight.