World Junior Champion Diogo Ribeiro Out Of Sette Colli Trophy Due To Covid-19

59th Annual Sette Colli Trophy

  • Friday, June 23rd – Sunday, June 25th
  • Prelims at 10am local (4am EDT)/Finals at 6pm local (Noon EDT)
  • Foro Italico, Rome, Italy
  • LCM (50m)
  • World Championships Qualifier
  • Meet Central
  • Entry List
  • Live Results

The 2023 Sette Colli Trophy, which will begin Friday in Rome, Italy, has lost one of its key players. Portugal’s Diogo Ribeiro did not arrive in Italy with the national team, but decided to stay home in Portugal, due to contracting COVID-19.

The news was made official by the Portuguese Federation (FNP), which in a press release today said:

Diogo Ribeiro, initially selected for this competition, will not be present due to having contracted Covid 19 but without symptoms and is even already training.

Diogo Ribeiro is in Coimbra with his family and training with medical monitoring to not run health risks. The fact that he no longer has symptoms and is doing light training is an extremely positive factor that makes us happy,” says coach Alberto Silva.

Ribeiro is the Portuguese and World Junior record holder in men’s 50m fly. During the boy’s 50m butterfly final at the 2022 World Junior Swimming Championships, Diogo Ribeiro established a new world junior record of 22.96.

In 2023 he has a season-best time of 23.19, achieved at the Portuguese National Championships last April.

Last March, World Junior champion Diogo Ribeiro produced a new lifetime best and Portuguese national record in men’s 50m free with a time of 21.87 to qualify for 2023 World Championship in Fukuoka and 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

While the variants of COVID-19 that are most prevalent globally today are much less deadly than the variants that killed millions in the first two years of the pandemic, the disease is still relatively-common. Portugal is reporting about 2,000 tests/week according to EU data, which excludes the estimated significant multiple of cases that go unreported.

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GrameziPT
1 year ago

The 22.96 NR was made at world juniors (WJR) not in Rome. He did medal in Rome euros with a bronze medal and 23.07 os something close to it

Last edited 1 year ago by GrameziPT
Daytonabeach
1 year ago

Still can’t believe China isn’t banned from every country.

Stuffed Up Sam
1 year ago

Not to be snide, but I thought COVID was basically over. I haven’t heard of anyone getting it in a very long time. Regardless, praying for a speedy recovery.

Admin
Reply to  Stuffed Up Sam
1 year ago

There’s a big gap between “COVID is not as deadly as it was 3 years ago” and “COVID doesn’t exist.”

COVID is still going to kill more people than the flu in 2023, and people skip meets with the flu all the time. A few swimmers missed Worlds last year with COVID, for example, not because of COVID restrictions, but because they were quite sick.

The focus of the story can change for sure. It’s still notable for a World Junior Champions to miss meets while they’re sick, whether it’s COVID or the flu, and can give clues as to a swimmer missing training and how that might impact their performance a month out from the World Championships.

Lap Counter
Reply to  Stuffed Up Sam
1 year ago

Two of my friends got Covid this week!

Dlswim
Reply to  Stuffed Up Sam
1 year ago

I pwrsonally know five people at my place of work who have gotten covd in the last three months. It’s still going around.

DK99
1 year ago

Getting Covid now is pretty embarrassing let’s be honest

Admin
Reply to  DK99
1 year ago

Portugal has 2,000 reported tests/week nationally, and that’s probably a very small portion of the people who take home tests, have mild symptoms, and never report it.

COVID-19 is much less deadly than it used to be, but it’s not exactly a rare disease.

Lpman
Reply to  DK99
1 year ago

Spoken like a true medical expert

Joel
Reply to  DK99
1 year ago

You obviously have no idea. I feel sorry for you actually.

About Giusy Cisale

Giusy Cisale

 GIUSY  CISALE A law graduate, and attorney for 15 years while devoting herself to running her swimming-focused blog, Scent of Chlorine. In 2015, she collaborated with Italian swimming news websites before joining SwimSwam in 2017. She loves swimming from every point of view and in 2016  became an official of the Italian …

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