2024 Sette Colli Trophy, Day 2 Prelims Recap: Hosszu Hunting 6th Olympic Games

2024 SETTE COLLI TROPHY

• Friday, June 21st – June 23rd
• Foro Italico Swimming Stadium, Rome, Italy
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• Day 1 Prelims Recap | Day 1 Finals Recap

Day 2 of the 2024 Sette Colli Trophy continued to bring us swims from a cluster of high-profile talent from around the world, including Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom, Japan’s Rikako Ikee and Great Britain’s Matt Richards.

For Italy in particular, this competition represents a last-chance opportunity for swimmers to qualify for next month’s Olympic Games.

The women’s 100m fly prelim brought the heat, with the top 10 finishers all dipping under the minute barrier.

Leading the way was 23-year-old Ikee who notched 58.03 as the top performer.

She’ll be chased by Sweden’s Louise Hansson and Italy’s Costanza Cocconcelli who were next in line as the respective 2nd and 3rd seeds. The former touched in 58.30 to the latter’s 59.00.

At this point, no Italian woman has qualified for the 100m fly so Cocconcelli will be among those trying to fill this gap. The 22-year-old earned a time of 57.77 at March’s Italian Championships but the Italian Swimming Federation had set its qualification standard at 57.49.

If Cocconcelli can repeat that caliber of performance, she’ll be able to clear the World Aquatics Olympic Qualification Time of 57.92 which now serves as the barrier the federation has set for this competition.

Olympic medalist Federico Burdisso of Italy is in the same boat, seeking Paris qualification in the men’s 200m fly.

The former Northwestern swimmer produced a morning outing of 1:57.39 to land lane 4 ahead of teammate Giacomo Carini. Carini clocked 1:57.99 while Alberto Razzetti hit 1:59.28 as the 4th seed.

Brazil’s Nicolas Albiero is in the mix with an AM swim of 1:58.24. Both Razzetti and Albiero have already punched their Paris tickets in this men’s 2fly event.

Another athlete in hot pursuit of individual Olympic qualification is 35-year-old new mom Katinka Hosszu.

Hosszzu of Hungary, an Olympic multi-gold medalist, turned in a time of 4:42.97 to capture the 2nd seed in this morning’s 400m IM heats.

That trailed reigning world champion Freya Colbert of Great Britain who posted 4:41.00 as the top performer.

Hosszu was unable to achieve Olympic Qualification Times in her events at Hungarian Nationals so she is using this competition as a last-chance meet. She’ll need to hit the OQT of 4:38.53 in tonight’s final to make a historic 6th Olympic Games appearance.

The men’s 400m IM saw British national record holder Max Litchfield put up a solid performance of 4:15.47 to hold the advantage over fellow Olympic qualifier Daiya Seto of Japan (4:16.21).

Litchfield established a new GBR national standard of 4:09.14 while racing this event at April’s British Championships to rank 3rd in the world at the moment.

The men’s and women’s 100m free prelims weren’t too shabby as Richards took the top seed in the men’s race while Sjostrom was too quick to catch in the women’s edition.

Richards registered 48.73 to set the stage for tonight’s main event, with Brazil’s Gui Caribe (48.79), Italy’s Alessandro Miressi (48.90) and fellow Brit Duncan Scott (48.90) among the contenders.

Sjostrom will see Hong Kong national record holder Siobhan Haughey put up a challenge, with Sjostrom nabbing the top spot in 53.41 to Haughye’s 53.93.

British ace Anna Hopkin was also under the 54-second threshold, putting up 53.95 as the 3rd-seeded competitor.

We reported that Canadian Penny Oleksiak qualified for the B-final in 55.18 for the 14th seed.

Additional Notes

• No woman dipped under the 1:00 barrier in the heats of the 100m back. Dutch swimmers Kira Toussaint and Maaike de Waard led the charge, with Toussaint touching in 1:00.73 to de Waard’s 1:00.91. British national champion Kathleen Dawson captured the 3rd seed in 1:01.08 followed by Margherita Panziera of Italy who posted 1:01.24.
• In the non-Olympic event of the men’s 50m back, it was Michele Lamberti who earned the quickest morning mark. Lamberti represented the sole swimer of the field to delve into 24-second territory nabbing the top spot in 24.83.
• 19-year-old Benedetta Pilato showed her dominance once again in the women’s 50m breast. She notched an impressive 29.99 to be the one to beat for tonight’s final. She already ranks 3rd in the world with a season-best of 29.58 from last November’s Italian Championships.

Potential New Italian Olympic Qualifiers From Friday’s Sette Colli Action

• Michele Lamberti – men’s 100 back
• Ludovico Viberti – men’s 100 breast
• Ginevra Taddeucci – women’s 1500 free

Italian Athletes Qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics Entering Sette Colli
Gregorio Paltrinieri in the 1500m and 800m freestyle
Alberto Razzetti in the 200m, 400m medley and 200m butterfly
Thomas Ceccon in the 100m backstroke
Benedetta Pilato in the 100m breaststroke
Alessandro Miressi in the 100m freestyle
Nicolò Martinenghi in the 100m breaststroke
Simona Quadarella in the 1500 and 800 freestyle
Manuel Frigo 4×100 freestyle
Lorenzo Zazzeri in the 50 freestyle
Sara Franceschi in the 400 medley
Lisa Angiolini in the 100 breaststroke
Leonardo Deplano in the 50 and 100 freestyle and in the 4×100 freestyle
Filippo Megli 4×200 freestyle
Sara Curtis 50 freestyle
Alessandro Ragaini 200 freestyle

Relays qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics
4×100 freestyle mas
4×100 freestyle female
4×100 mixed mixed
4×200 freestyle female
4×200 freestyle mas
4×100 freestyle mixed mas
4×100 mixed female