2016 Italian Spring Nationals and Olympic Trials: Day 3 Finals

2016 Italian Assoluti National Championships and Olympic Trials

• Dates: Tuesday, April 19 – Saturday, April 23, 2016
• Times: prelims 9:00 am, finals 5 pm
• Location: Riccione, Italy (GMT +1, or 6 hours ahead of N.Y., 9 ahead of L.A.)
• Results: Available
• Championship Central

The Italian Spring Assoluti National Championships and Olympic Trials opened in Riccione on Tuesday, with 574 athletes from 141 teams. The meet is doubling as a selection meet for the Italian teams who will compete at 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, the 2016 LEN European Championships in London in May, and the 2016 European Junior Championships. The Italian qualifying standards for Rio are a bit complicated; we have outlined the standards in our Day One recap here.

Men’s 50 Butterfly Final

• Italian Record: Piero Codia, 23.21 – Barcelona, 2013

Italian record-holder, Piero Codia (Army / CC Aniene), won his signature event for the third year in a row, in a time that was about 2/10 faster time than a year ago, with 23.56. Matteo Rivolta (Rome Golden Flames / Team Insubrika) came in second with 23.82, just in front of Daniele D’Angelo (CC Aniene) in 23.96.

Women’s 400 Individual Medley Final

• Italian Record: Alessia Filippi (Aurelia), 4:34.34 – Beijing, 2008
• Olympic Qualifying Time A: 4:36.6
• Olympic Qualifying Time B: 4:38.0

As was the case a year ago, the women’s 400 IM was a great race from the opening bell. There was good depth in the heat, and the middle 5 lanes were essentially together until the breaststroke leg. There, Carlotta Toni (RN Florentia) took over the lead with a strong 100 breast, but the freestyle favored Luisa Trombetti (Rome Golden Flames / RN Torino) and Sara Franceschi (Livorno), both of whom passed Toni by the 350 wall and brought it home for a 1-2 finish in 4:38.54 and 4:40.03, respectively. Toni took third with 4:41.27.

Also moving up quickly in the freestyle was fourth-place finisher Ilaria Cusinato (Team Veneto), who touched in 4:42.18. Alessia Polieri (Yellow Flames / Imolanuoto) took fifth with 4:44.36). She was followed by Anna Pirovano (Vittoria Alata) in 4:48.34; Susanna Negri (SMGM Team Lombardy) with 4:54.16; and Alessia Capitanio (US Triestina) with 4:54.79.

Men’s 400 Freestyle Final

• Italian Record: Massimiliano Rosolino (Larus), 3:43.40 – Sydney, 2000
• Olympic Qualifying Time A: 3:46.1
• Olympic Qualifying Time B: 3:47.3

Gabriele Detti (Army / SMGM Team Lombardy) had a huge race, finishing all alone with about a 15-meter lead on the field and touching in 3:43.97. He came within a half-second of breaking the 16-year-old Italian record, and jumped to the Number 2 performer of the year so far this season.

Touching second was Mitch D’Arrigo (Unicusano Aurelia) in 3:50.82, ahead of Domenico Acerenza (Larus), who almost caught him at the end with a 57.0 final 100. Acerenza took the bronze medal with 3:51.20, passing Damiano Lestingi (CC Aniene) over the last 50 meters. Lestingi, runner-up last year, was fourth in 3:51.62.

Alex di Giorgio (CC Aniene) was fifth in 3:52.07; he battled Nicolangelo di Fabio (Army / SMGM Team Lombardy) down the stretch and got the touch by 49/100. Seventh place went to Samuel Pizzetti (Police / Milanesi) with 3:54.03; Matteo Ciampi (Livorno) rounded out the final with 3:54.23.

Women’s 200 Backstroke Final

• Italian Record: Alessia Filippi (Aurelia), 2:08.03 – Pescara, 2009
• Olympic Qualifying Time A: 2:09.0
• Olympic Qualifying Time B: 2:09.6

Defending champion Margherita Panziera (CC Aniene) repeated her title in the 200 back but not her time. Panziera’s 2:10.91 was about 1.3 seconds off her winning time from 2015 and as a result she missed the Rio qualifying standard. Carlotta Zofkova (Forest / Imolanuoto) moved up a spot from 2015 with a second-place 2:11.97. Down by 1.5 seconds at the 100, Zofkova nearly even-split her 100s and moved up on Panziera over the final 50 meters, but it wasn’t enough to earn the gold.

Letizia Paruscio (CC Aniene) held off a strong challenge from Camilla Tinelli (Vittorino da Feltre) to take the bronze medal. Paruscio had a strong third 50 that put her in front of Tinelli, but the latter outsplit her down the stretch. In the end it was Paruscio with 2:14.39 and Tinelli with 2:14.57.

The rest of the final came in together: Ambra Esposito (CC Naples) in 2:15.04, Francesca Viverit (Gestisport) with 2:16.16, Elisa Maloni (UISP Valdimagra) with 2:16.41, and Lorena Barfucci (Gestisport) with 2:16.78.

Men’s 200 Backstroke Final

• Italian Record: Damiano Lestingi, 1:56.91 – Riccione, 2009
• Olympic Qualifying Time A: 1:56.8
• Olympic Qualifying Time B: 1:57.3

The men’s 200 back continues to be a strong event for Italian men. The A final was an exciting race; Simone Sabbioni (Army / Swim Pro SS9) led at the 50 by a good half body length already, and had extended his advantage by the 100 wall. However the second half of the race belonged to defending Luca Mencarini (Rome Golden Flames / CC Aniene) and 2015 runner-up Christopher Ciccarese (also Rome Golden Flames / CC Aniene). Ciccarese closed the distance with Sabbioni over the third 50 and was only .2 behind the leader at the 150 wall. Mencarini moved up on the leaders, too, but it was his fourth 50 that shut down the field. Mencarini got the win in 1:58.05, just out-touching Ciccarese who got second with 1:58.15. Sabbioni finished third in 1:58.96.

Michele Malerba (Larus) nearly caught Sabbioni as well. He came from seventh place at the 100 and 150 to finish fourth in 1:59.47, with the fastest fourth 50 in the field. Malerba passed Mattia Aversa (CC Aniene) at the end; Aversa was fifth with 1:59.51. Matteo Restivo (Florentia) was sixth with 1:59.88. Jacopo Bietti (CC Aniene) and Emanuel Turchi (Ancona) were seventh and eighth with 2:00.11 and 2:00.58, respectively.

Women’s 100 Butterfly Final

• Italian Record: Ilaria Bianchi, 57.27 – London, 2012
• Olympic Qualifying Time A: 57.7
• Olympic Qualifying Time B: 58.2
• Olympic Qualifying Time C: 58.6

Italian record-holder and defending chamipion Ilaria Bianchi (Yellow Flames / Blue 91) went 58.18 in the morning heats, about what she did last year. But this time she had a better evening swim and clocked a 57.87 to win by 2 full seconds and secure a ticket to Rio.

Aurora Petronio (RN Torino) came in second, just moving past and out-touching Arianna Letrari (Bolzano) and Elena Di Liddo (CC Aniene) at the end, 59.85 to 59.99 to 1:00.04, respectively. Claudia Tarzia (Army / Genova) was fifth in 1:00.21. Rounding out the final and coming in together were Emanuela Albenzi (SMGM Team Lombardy) with 1:00.83, Valentina Zonno (Forestry / Larus) with 1:01.10, and Alice Loffredo (Gestisport) with 1:01.29.

Men’s 4×100 Freestyle Relay Final

• Italian Club Record: Rome Golden Flames, 3:16.38 – Riccione, 2012

There’s something about the leadoff of the men’s 400 free relay that brings out the best of Luca Dotto (Forestry). Last year he went 48.40, which was .10 faster than Marco Orsi’s winning time in the individual event. This year, Dotto broke the Italian national record and beat his own 100 free title time by nearly a half-second, leading off the relay in 47.96. Dotto becomes the first Italian man under the 48-second barrier, and vaults to Number 2 in the world.

Golden Flames won the race, though, with 3:18.04 from Luca Leonardi (49.14), Stefano Pizzamiglio (49.91), Matteo Rivolta (50.07), and Lucio spadaro (48.92). CC Aniene came in second with 3:19.69 behind Filippo Magnini (49.46), Daniele D’Angelo (49.91), Alex di Giorgio (51.33), and Jonathan Boffa (48.99). Yellow Flames were third in 3:20.20 thanks to Stefano di Cola (50.72), Gianluca Maglia (49.52), Michele Latrofa (49.81), and Alessandro Bori (50.15).

Women’s 4×200 Freestyle Relay Final

• Italian Club Record: 8:03.52

It’s like a broken record, or maybe Groundhog Day. For the second year in a row, CC Aniene came from behind to touch out Rome Golden Flames at the end of the 800 free relay. It’s inevitable; when you put Federica Pellegrini on the end of your relay and she hydroplanes to a 1:54.86 anchor leg, you have a good shot at the team title. That’s exactly what happened this year. Teammates Rachele Ceracchi (2:01.28), Margherita Panziera (2:03.46), and Simona Quadarella (2:03.88) set Pellegrini up to be within 6.5 seconds of Golden Flames, which was all she needed. Pellegrini was out in 56.34 and back in 58.5 for a 1:54.86 anchor that gave CC Aniene a total time of 8:03.48. Yellow Flames took second with 8:04.10 from Diletta Carli (2:02.51), Erica Musso (1:58.35), Stefania Pirozzi (2:01.29), and Giada Galizi (2:01.95). Team Veneto (Lucrezia Delatone, Ilaria Cusinato, Ianire Casarin, and Morgan Farronato) took third in 8:17.41.