Action Wraps Up at 2015 Sette Colli: Sjostrom Nabs 2 More Golds, Manaudou Scratches 100 Free Final

The 52nd annual Sette Colli Trophy came to a close tonight, with several notable swims concluding the 2015 edition of the meet held in Rome, Italy.

Full Results

Women’s Events

The 200m backstroke saw host country swimmer Margherita Panziera take the win in 2:10.93, a solid time for the Italian, who only recently clocked her lifetime best of 2:09.63 this past April.  Scotland’s Kathleen Dawson earned her second medal of the meet, scoring a silver in her effort of 2:12.78.  Italy’s Carlotta Zofkova rounded out the top three with her time of 2:13.95.  USA’s Cammile Adams finished in 7th place logging a time of 2:18.53, just .08 of a second slower than prelims.

Sarah Sjostrom closed out her phenomenal 2015 Sette Colli competition with two additional individual victories today, bringing her meet total to 5 golds in all.  Sjostrom first started by wiping out the meet record en route to winning the women’s 50m butterfly event.  Sjostrom threw down a speed 25.23 to hack off almost half a second from prelims, and surpass the old meet record of 25.50 held by Inge Dekker (NED) from last year.  Sjostrom now owns the top two times in the world in the event as she currently sits atop the 50m butterfly throne with her 24.69 from Eindhoven.  In tonight’s race, Dekker settled for 2nd place in her time of 25.68.  With Dekker’s teammate Ranomi Kromowidjojo scratching the final, Italy’s Elena Gemo took full advantage of getting bumped up into the final, stealing 3rd place from outside lane 8 with a time of 26.04.  Gemo knocked almost a full second off of her prelims effort of 26.04 with her effort tonight.

Sjostrom then followed her sprint victory up with another powerful performance in the women’s 200m freestyle race. In a somewhat somber victory in a time of 1:55.05, Sjostrom surpassed the meet record held by the late Camille Muffat, the French Olympian who passed away tragically in a helicopter accident earlier this year.  Muffat previously held the record of 1:56.01 from 2013.  Sjostrom now owns the top two times in the world in the 200m freestyle, after already earning a 1:54.77 from the Bergen Swim Festival.  Italy’s Federica Pellegrini represented the home country well tonight, registering a 1:56.06 for 2nd place, her best time since the 1:56.01 she swam in Berlin last year.

Additional winners tonight include Turkey’s Victoria Gunes who clocked a 2:24.18 to top the women’s 200m breaststroke field.  Hungary’s Zsuzsanna Jakabos also was victorious, taking home the women’s 200m IM title, winning the event handily in a time of 2:12.65, a little over a second slower than her best time thus far this season (2:11.32).

The women’s 800m freestyle event rocked several spots on the world’s rankings, as Hungary’s Boglarka Kapas raced to the wall to win in 8:23.71, a time which now ranks her 5th in the world.  Kapas’ previous best this year was her 8:30.40 she clocked in Eindhoven.  Italy punched a 2-3 finish, with Erica Musso touching in 8:28.70 for a season best, and also the 10th-fastest thus far this year.  Teammate Diletta Carli clocked an 8:31.54 to log the 14th-fastest time in the world, also good enough to finish in 3rd in tonight’s race.

Men’s Events

After an exciting prelim of the men’s 100m freestyle, hopes were high for an even more thrilling final.  Even with France’s Florent Manaudou scratching the final, the race was still an intense race to the finish.  Frenchman Mehdy Metella raged to the wall in a time of 48.60, a time not too far off his 48.44 he clocked at the Golden Tour in Nancy, which currently sits as the 10th-fastest time in the world.  2nd tonight was The Netherlands’ Sebastiaan Verschuren, registering a 48.89.  Verschuren has been as fast as 48.25 this year, however.  Rounding out the top three was Japan’s Shinri Shioura, who rocketed up from 7th seed out of prelims, dropping almost half a second to earn the bronze in 49.59.

Henrique Rodrigues put Brazil on the board tonight with a victory in the men’s 200m IM.  Rodrigues swam away with the win in a time of 1:59.50, a time which ranks as 19th-fastest in the world.  Rodrigues was already logged as the 15th-fastest with his time 1:59.09 from Marseille.  Racing to silver and bronze tonight were Sweden’s Simon Sjoedin and Italy’s Davide Cova, who touched the wall in 2:01.02 and 2:01.16, respectively.

Other winners included Italy’s Luca Mencarini who earned the men’s 200m backstroke win in a time of 1:57.43 and Lithuania’s Gledrius Titenis nabbed the 200m breaststroke gold in a time of 2:10.32.  The men’s 50m butterfly saw Ukraine’s Andrey Govorov sprint to the top of the field, securing 1st in a time of 23.44, his best time this year.

In the longest race of the night, the men’s 1500m freestyle, Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri swam a smooth 15:00.60 to take the race by about three seconds over 2nd place finisher Damien Joly who touched in 15:03.57.  Paltrinieri still sits as king of the 1500 worldwide, with the 14:43.87 he clocked at Italy’s spring championships.  3rd in the race tonight was Hungary’s Gergely Gyurta who finished in a time of 15:07.18.