Italian National Championship Scheduled for August; Foreigners Allowed

As the world tries to resume a semblance of normalcy amid the recovery stage of the global coronavirus pandemic, Italy has announced plans to host a joint Sette Colli Trophy/National Championship meet in August. This would make Italy the first among the world’s top swimming nations to hold a national championship meet after the global shutdown.

The plans are dependent on national rules allowing gatherings of this size, though under current planning they would be allowed. So far, the government has not made clear as to whether there will be spectators allowed or not.

For the first time in history, the event, which is due to be held at the Stadio del Nuoto in Rome, will combine Italy’s National Championship along with the Sette Colli meet: a major international mid-season event that attracts some of the best swimmers from around the world annually. Among the international participants in 2019 included Pernille Blume, Ranomi Kromowidjojo, Adam Peaty, Chad le Clos, Michael Andrew, Femke Heemskerk, Katinka Hosszu, Etiene Medeiros, and Ajna Kesely.

A provisional plan released by the Italian Swimming Federation (FIN) on Thursday also plans other national championship events for this fall. Among others, the provisional schedule includes these dates:

• Italian diving championships (August 5-7 in Bolzano)
• Italian artistic (synchronized) swimming championships (August 7-9 in Savona)
•  Italian open water swimming championships (August 18-21 in Piombino, Tuscany),
• the 57th edition of the International Seven Hills Swimming Trophy (12-14 August at the Swimming Stadium, Rome) also considered as an Italian National Championship
• Two water polo matches water polo with Settebello and Setterosa at the federal center of Ostia to be held by mid-August
• Italian water polo cup in September.

With regards to the youth sector, the Federation specifies:

“Also scheduled are the youth swimming, synchro and water polo championships on a regional basis and diving in a national reunion.”

Most of the country’s competitive swimmers, both seniors and juniors, have resumed training over the last month as the country has seen the spread of the coronavirus reduce dramatically. At it’s peak in late March, Italy was seeing over 6,000 new cases of the virus per day as hospitals were overwhelmed. Over the last week, the country has averaged just 300 new cases per day, with around 70 daily deaths.