Milan: France’s Bonnet Among Season’s Top 7 200 Freestylers

8° Trofeo Città di Milano

• March 9-11th, Milan
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Day 1 of the Trofeo Citta di Milano kicked off with the Italian contingency being well-represented on the podium, while other nations’ visiting swimmers also earned some hardware.

France’s Charlotte Bonnet claimed 2 gold medals on the night, beginning with the women’s 200m freestyle. The 23-year-old European Short Course Champion crushed the field in the final, topping the pack in 1:56.61. Opening with a split of 56.73, Bonnet closed in a solid 59.88 to crank out the only sub-2 minute outing in the race.

Bonnet’s outing checks-in as her fastest this season, easily overtaking her 1:57.28 from the Golden Tour Nice just last month. In fact, Bonnet’s 1:56.61 from this evening now ranks her as 7th fastest in the world thus far:

Bonnet also stood atop the podium in the women’s 50m freestyle sprint, logging a winning time of 25.26. Right behind her was Italy’s Erika Ferraioli, notching 25.64 for silver, while teammate Nicoletta Ruberti rounded out the top 3 with her bronze medal-garnering effort of 25.77. Bonnet was already 25.01 this season in Nice.

29-year-old Fabio Scozzoli is still riding the wave of his success from Copenhagen, having beaten the usually untouchable Adam Peaty of Great Britain in the men’s 50m breaststroke. Scozzoli claimed the European Short Course title at those championships and won tonight in the only sub-28 second time of the field. Clocking 27.57, Scozzoli comfortably beat out his 2nd and 3rd place compatriots represented by Gianluca Maiorana and Andrea Toniato who finished with respective times of 28.20 and 28.34 in the all-Italian final.

Two Brits did get on the board in the gold column, as both Georgia Davies and Ben Proud snagged gold in their respective sprint events. Representing Energy Standard, world champion Proud proved the fastest tonight in the 50m butterfly, taking the win over Chad Le Clos in 23.27 to the South African’s 23.72.

In the 50m back, Davies followed suit, crushing 28.03 to beat runner-up Simona Baumtrova of the Czech Republic, who settled for silver in 28.33.

They weren’t the only non-Italians to shut out the home team for gold in an event, as Ukrainian Mykhaylo Romanchuk did some damage in the 400m freestyle. He led a 1 & 3 finish with teammate Sergiey Frolov in the event, with Romanchuk delving into sub-3:50 territory in 3:48.78, while Frolov took bronze in 3:51.45. Frolov finished just .05 behind tonight’s silver medalist in the race, Jan Micka of the Czech Republic. National record holder Micka touched in 3:51.40 behind Romanchuk.

Canada’s Mary Sophie-Harvey raced to gold in the women’s 200m IM, stopping the clock in 2:13.56, the 6th fastest time of her career. Italy’s best finisher in the race was Ilaria Cusinato who wrapped up silver in 2:14.16, about 1 1/2 seconds off of her lifetime best of 2:12.71.

Le Clos made another appearance in Milan tonight, proving to be too much for the men’s 200m fly field to handle. Le Clos split 54.10/1:00.96 to notch a winning effort of 1:55.06, a solid swim less than 5 weeks out from the Commonwealth Games. Le Clos was the only participant to venture under the 2-minute barrier.

Additional Winners on the Day:

• Alessandro Miressi and Luca Dotto were the only racers to produce sub-50 second outings in the men’s 100m freestyle event. Miressi touched in 49.44 for gold, while Dotto earned silver in 59.56.
• Martina Carraro was impressive in the 100m breaststroke, taking the win by over a second in 1:07.98.
• Italian national record holder Ilaria Bianchi cranked out her best time since last year, winning the 100m fly in 57.94. That mark checks her in among the world’s top 10 performers so far this season.
• Matteo Milli took the men’s 100m backstroke race in 55.39, while the next 3 finishers all touched within .27 of each other.
• The men’s 200m breaststroke saw Luca Pizzini win in 2:13.17, while the women’s 200m back saw Crille Gheorghiu win in 2:13.76.
• Federico Turrini topped the men’s 400m IM field in 4:21.16, just .42 ahead of Romanchuk, who touched in 4:21.58 for silver.