Sette Colli Day 2 Prelims: On-Fire Gretchen Walsh Nabs Two Top Seeds

67th SETTE COLLI TROPHY 

• Friday, June 26th – Sunday, June 28th
• Prelims at 9am local (3am ET)/A-Finals at 7pm local (1pm ET)
• Foro Italico, Rome, Italy
• SwimSwam Preview
• Entry List
• Prelims Recaps: Day 1
• Finals Recaps: Day 1
• Live Results
• Prelims Livestream

Day one of the 67th Sette Colli Trophy brought the heat, with multiple impressive swims turned in on both the men’s and women’s sides to kick things off in Rome.

Today’s heats have set up even more potentially explosive finals, as the plethora of talent both from Italy and beyond took to the Foro Italico pool,

Fresh off her newly minted American Record in last night’s 50m fly, 23-year-old Gretchen Walsh made her presence known once again, taking on both the women’s 100m fly and the 100m free.

In the former, the reigning World Record holder stopped the clock at a super speedy morning swim of 55.47 for a new meet record. Her time obliterated the former competition standard of 56.04 Olympic champion and last night’s 50m fly runner-up Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden established in 2015.

That gives her over a second advantage ahead of the pack, with the next-closest swimmer represented by Roos Vanotterdijk of Belgium, who turned in a time of 57.80.

Germany’s world champion Angelina Köhler is in the mix, owning the 3rd seed in 58.13, with Danish athlete Helena Rosendahl Bach closely behind in 58.35.

Not making the top tier, however, were Russia’s Arina Surkova, who finished in 11th, and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s star Lana Pudar, who settled for a 12th-place finish.

Walsh became the 2nd-fastest women’s 50m butterflier in history with her monster 24.51 last night for the gold.

She is the current World Record holder in the 100m fly, with her lifetime best of 54.33 just a springboard for the woman who says she wants to break the 54-second barrier.

Walsh’s next victim was the 100m free, where the American busted out a head-turning morning effort of 53.38, a new season-best by .06.

On-fire Marrit Steenbergen, who is the only woman in history to own two sub-52-second swims in this event, will flank Walsh tonight in 53.51.

26-year-old World Championships gold medalist Steenbergen is the #1 swimmer in the world right now in this 1free event, courtesy of the 51.86 national record she put up in May at the Mare Nostrum Tour stop in Canet. That was followed shortly by another other-worldly time of 51.97 just two days later at the Barcelona edition.

Sara Curtis, the versatile University of Virginia superstar, followed up her 50m back European Record from last night with a big swim of 53.61 to claim the 3rd seed. That is already within striking distance of the 19-year-old’s lifetime best and Italian national record of 53.01 posted in April of last year.

Siobhan Haughey of Hong Kong, a four-time Olympic medalist, lurks as the 5th-seeded female in 54.43. She ranks 4th in the world at the moment as a result of the 52.36 etched in Monaco.

28-year-old Haughey had earlier contested the 50m breaststroke event, where the national record holder delivered a solid mark of 30.67, good enough for the 4th seed.

Landing lane four for tonight’s final, however, is Italian favorite Benedetta Pilato, who captured the top spot in 30.20, just .04 ahead of teammate Lisa Angiolini.

Pilato’s effort was just shy of her 30.13 season-best notched at April’s Italian Championships.

Irish Olympic medalist Mona McSharry logged 30.58 for the 3rd seed and a near-season-best, as Olympic medalist Yuliya Efimova of Russia hit 30.68 for the 5th seed.

American Alex Walsh was entered in the event but wound up not swimming it.

Competing as a neutral athlete at this meet, Russian Ivan Kozhakin produced a speedy time of 59.75 to lead the men’s 100m breaststroke, producing one of just two results of the morning under the minute threshold.

Gabriele Mancini of Italy was also sub-1:00, hitting 59.84 for the 2nd seed.

Dutch Olympic medalist Caspar Corbeau registered 1:00.15 as the 3rd-seeded result, with Germany’s Melvin Imoudu lurking as the 4th seed in 1:00.17.

Italian duo Nicolo Martinenghi, the reigning Olympic champion in this event, notched 1:00.24 for 5th, and Simone Cerasuolo posted 1:00.25 for the 6th seed. Cerasuolo topped the 50m breast podium last night in 26.63.

Of note, Ilya Shymanovich missed out on the top 8 this morning, as did British World Record holder and multi-Olympic gold medalist Adam Peaty.

Peaty was relegated to 19th in an uncharacteristic time of 1:01.13, potentially pointing to his injured finger from yesterday’s prelims still giving the ace some trouble. The newly-married man already ranks 6th in the world as a result of the 58.97 comeback swim he registered at the Aquatics GB Championships to qualify both for the Commonwealth Games and the European Championships after missing last year’s championship season.

As for Kozhakin, however, the Russian is experiencing a career resurgence of sorts, delivering his fastest times now as a 28-year-old.

The veteran produced his first-ever 100m breast under the 59-second barrier just this past April (58.91) and did it again in June (58.93). Kozhakin claimed the top seed in the 50m breast yesterday morning, but settled for bronze in the final.

Olympic medalist Federico Burdisso gave the home crowd something to cheer about, hitting 1:56.94 to secure lane four for tonight’s main event.

Burdisso will be chased by Hungarian Richard Martin, who clocked 1:57.34.

Noe Ponti, last night’s 100m fly runner-up, logged 1:58.31 to claim the 5th-seeded position.

A one-time swimmer for Northwestern in the NCAA, 24-year-old Burdisso broke through with a bronze in this 200m fly event at the 2020 Olympic Games (1:54.45).

Since that time, however, the Italian has been mostly quiet, save for a men’s medley relay bronze at the 2024 World Championships. His time this morning beats his former season-best of 1:57.26 from the Lausanne Swim Cup, hopefully giving Burdisso fans some positivity that he’s trending in the right direction with the European Championships on the horizon.

Finally, Romanian Olympic champion and former World Record holder David Popovici staked his claim on the 100m free in a big way, clocking a swift 47.72 as the sole swimmer of the pack to clear the 48-second barrier.

Croatian national record holder Jere Hribar won’t go down quietly, however, notching 48.11, with Brazil’s dynamo Gui Caribe also very much in the running with a solid 48.27.

Hungarian Olympic champion Kristof Milak logged 48.45 for 4th, with Carlos D’Ambrosio representing the fastest Italian of the morning in 48.63.

A fully-bearded Thomas Ceccon was 12th in 49.24, with versatile Russian Kliment Kolesnikov also out of the final with 49.47 for 18th place.

Popovici’s season-best checks in at the 47.52 put up at April’s Romanian Championships, the 21-year-old is already putting that mark on notice.

This men’s 100m free is getting more cut-throat by the minute. Just last night at the Spanish Championships, two swimmers cleared the 48-second barrier for the first time ever. Luca Hoek notched 47.72 for a new national record and Cesar Castro hit 47.98.

The top 19 athletes in the world at the moment are all in the 47-second zone, making this one of the deepest fields of all men’s events around the world.

Additional Notes

• The women’s 100m back saw Martina Biasoli of the host nation grab the top seed, although no one among the field dipped under the minute barrier this morning. Biasoli earned the pole position in 1:00.99, with Anita Gastaldi over a half second back in 1:01.69 to vie for the gold. Notable misses among the top 8 included Irish national record holder Danielle Hill, who notched 1:02.69 for 10th, although her countrywoman Charlotte Cullen indeed made the final, hitting 1:01.89 as the 3rd-seeded athlete.
• The men’s edition of the 100m back was also on the subdued side, with last night’s 50m back victor, Apostolos Christou of Greece, delivering the #1 seed in 54.07. Behind him was Swiss Olympic medfalist Roman Mityukov, who nabbed 54.51, with Francesco Lazzari representing the quickest Italian of the morning in 54.73. 19-year-old World Junior Championships multi-medalist John Shortt of Ireland sneaked into the final at 54.86 for 8th. Reigning World Record holder and Olympic champion Thomas Ceccon was a no-swim in this event.
• As mentioned, Olympic and World Championships medalist Alex Walsh bypassed the 50m breast, but the 24-year-old did dive in for the 400m IM, where she snagged the #1 seed in 4:42.79. That holds a healthy advantage over the next-closest swimmer, Irish national record holder Ellen Walshe, who touched in 4:44.40. Anna Pirovano of the host nation nabbed the 3rd seed in 4:45.26.
• Hungary is setting its eyes on a 400m IM meet title, with Gabor Zombori getting it done for the top spot in 4:19.66. He was one of three sub-4:20 swimmers on the morning, with Emanuele Potenza and Alberto Razzetti joining him under the threshold in respective morning outings of 4:19.73 and 4:19.85. Out of the top 8 are Germany’s Cedric Buessing (4:24.31) and Greece’s Apostolos Papastamos (4:24.84).