2024 ITALIAN SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Thursday, November 14th – Saturday, November 16th
- Riccione, Italy
- SCM (25m)
- Entries
- SwimSwam Preview
- SwimSwam Italy Coverage
- Live Results
The 2024 Italian Short Course Championships kicked off today from Riccione with athletes vying for slots on the nation’s roster for next month’s Short Course World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
As a refresher, a number of swimmers have already qualified by way of their performances at this year’s Olympic Games.
Per the Italian selection policy:
ATHLETES ALREADY QUALIFIED
- Olympic Finalists or Medalists (Paris 2024): Athletes who have reached an individual final or won a medal at the Olympic Games in Paris qualify automatically.
- Olympic Medal Relays: Athletes who swam in heats or finals of medal-winning relays at Paris 2024 will be selected.
- Olympic Relay Finalists: Relay teams that reach the final at Paris 2024 will be selected as a team, not as individual athletes.
Based on this priority, the following are already qualified:
- Thomas Ceccon
- Nicholas Martinenghi
- Gregory Paltrinieri
- Alessandro Miressi
- Paul Count Bonin
- Manuel Frigo
- Leonardo Deplano
- Lorenzo Zazzeri
- Benedetta Pilato
- Simona Quadarella
- Alberto Razzetti
- Luca De Tullio
National record holder Sara Curtis, just 18 years of age, topped the women’s 50m back in a time of 26.14. That outing fell just .06 shy of the national record effort of 26.08 se put on the books in April of this year.
Curtis qualified for Budapest with tonight’s performance, dipping under the 26.29 threshold mandated for SC Worlds.
Sofia Morini snagged SC Worlds qualification in the women’s 200m free, narrowly dipping under the 1:54.79 QT set by the Italian Swimming Federation.
Morini stopped the clock at 1:54.72 to grab the gold, owning the sole outing of the field under the 1:55 barrier. She is Italy’s #2 performer of all-time in this event, with her lifetime best of 1:54.20 sitting only behind national record holder Federica Pellegrini’s time of 1:51.17 from the supersuit era.
Tonight, Giulia D’Innocenzo was the runner-up in 1:55.14 while Matilde Biagiotti bagged the bronze in 1:55.96.
Simone Cerasuolo made it happen in the men’s 100m breast, firing off a winning time of 56.28 to top the podium.
That earned the first of two sub-57-second results with Lucovido Blu Art Viberti also earning Budapest qualificatoi with his silver medal-worthy 56.86.
Alessandro Pinzuti rounded out the podium in 57.22.
Cerasuolo’s mark represents a new lifetime best, overtaking his then-World Junior Record time of 56.66 established at the 2021 version of these championships.
The women’s 1500m free saw national record holder Simona Quadarella decisively beat the field en route to the gold.
The 800 free bronze medalist from Tokyo touched in 15:33.4o, handily clearing the time standard of 15:42.99 needed for next month’s SC Worlds.
Noemi Cesarano was well behind in 16:01.32 for silver while Valentina Procaccini also landed on the podium in 16:06.13 for bronze.
Additional Notes
- The men’s 100m back saw Lorenzo Mora clock a time of 50.23 to win the event, getting the edge over Christian Bacico who settled for silver just .16 behind in 50.39. Francesco Lazzari wrapped up bronze in 50.86. Mora owns the Italian national record, courtesy of the 49.04 lifetime best he produced for silver at the 2022 Short Course World Championships. Of note, the B-final winner this evening, Davide Lazzari (51.98), would have finished 7th in the A-final.
- Matteo Lamberti won the men’s 400m free in a time of 3:39.87 but fell short of the Budapest QT of 3:38.69. Lamberti touched less than a second ahead of Marco De Tullio who snagged runner-up in 3:40.21 while brother Luca De Tullio rounded out the podium in 3:41.87.
- Already qualified for Budapest, Benedetta Pilato did her thing in the women’s 100m breast. The 19-year-old Olympian clinched gold in 1:03.77, beating the field by over a second. The next-closest competitor was represented by Arianna Castiglioni who touched in 1:04.97.
- Simone Stefani clocked a time of 50.15 to win the men’s 100m fly but fell shy of the needed 49.59 to qualify for Budapest. Michele Busa scored silver in 50.30 while Alberto Razzetti, already qualified for Budapest, earned bronze in 50.53. Of note, 2020 Olympic medalist Federico Burdisso fell to 8th in the race, logging 51.58.
- Silvia Di Pietro fell painstakingly shy of making the Budapest grade in the women’s 50m fly. The 31-year-old notched 25.52 as the victor, just a smidge off the 25.19 needed for SC Worlds in the event.
- Already qualified for Budapest, Leonardo Deplano doubled down with a victory in the men’s 50m free, hitting 21.21 for gold. Alessandro Miressi was next to the wall in 21.46 and Gabriele Brambillaschi also landed on the podium in 21.47 for bronze.
