SwimSwam Italy editor Giusy Cisale contributed to this reporting.
Italian swimmer Gregorio Paltrinieri, the 2022 World Champion in the 10km open water race, is taking a huge gamble next week in Doha, Qatar at the World Aquatics Championships.
Paltrinieri, not yet qualified to swim the race at the Paris Olympic Games, has dropped the 10k from his schedule at the World Championships. This year, the World Championships are the last opportunity for qualification spots for the Olympic Games, but with a bit of a twist that still allows Paltrinieri a chance for Paris.
In each gender, the top 3 finishers in the open water 10km races automatically earned a quota place for the Paris Olympics. The 13 best athletes in the 10km race from the 2024 World Championships (who are not already qualified) also earn a quota place for their nation.
Then there is a rule allowing a quota place per continent if one is not already qualified from those two steps, and one allowing a male and female from the host country (France) to qualify, though it’s likely that France will already have qualifications by that point.
In practice, the swimmers who earned these quota spots have been given the chance to swim at the Olympics by their National Olympic Committees, but by rule, the quota places go to a nation, not an athlete, and those nations can allocate them as they see fit. The top 3 places from the 2023 World Championships did go to the named athletes, but the remainder of the slots are quota places awarded to countries.
By agreement, Dario Verani and Domenico Averenza will swim the 10km event at the World Championships to attempt to earn Italy two qualification spots for the Olympic Games. SwimSwam’s Giusy Cisale surmises that if Verani earns a spot, he will ceded it to his countrymate Paltrinieri.
The Italian federation in announcing the change confirmed the plan for Verani to give up his spot to Paltrinieri if earned. He was not originally entered in the 10km event.
At last year’s World Championships, Acerenza and Paltrinieri finished 4th and 5th, respectively, in the open water 10k, leaving quite a bit of room for them to qualify for the Olympic Games in Doha (roughly two minutes of slack, depending on the field).
See also: Paltrinieri prefers to swim in a dirty Seine in the heart of Paris than “an anonymous basin.”
While Verani might be the third choice on a deep bench of Italian open water swimmers, he’s still more-than-capable of earning a spot in the Olympics. He was the 2022 World Champion in the now-defunct 25km race, has medaled in 5 Marathon Swimming World Cup events, and finished 9th in the high level World Cup event in Portugal in December that was a selection event for a number of nations.
In spite of this drop, Paltrinieri is scheduled to swim the open water 5km and team events and the 800 and 1500 in the pool. He said in an interview that his focus is on the Paris Olympic Games, where open water swimming will come after the pool races – likely a better setup for him than before, which led to fatigue and struggles in the pool at the Fukuoka World Championships.
Paltrinieri is already pre-selected to the Italian Olympic team in the 1500 free.
Why not? Already gambling every race with the inefficient use of energy in his stroke. 😉
*Yawns*
Janey Evan
If it works it works
And it could work better, objectively. That’s how we make headway as the generations progress- less swimmers at the top with inefficient strokes than you would have seen 20-30 years ago.
From reading the headline I thought he put $10 grand on red at the Doha casino
So, no gamble indeed and Rafael and Adrian were right.
I remembered this potential rule because there is a high chance on Brazil women side that only Ana Marcela will qualify directly and Vivi will probably go for OW using her 1500 qualification
Answers for Adrian and Rafael. Italian Swimming Federation has written that the goal is that Acerenza and Paltrinieri (the two strongest 10 km swimmers ) will swim the Olympic 10 km Federazione Italiana Nuoto – Mondiali. Primi allenamenti a Doha. Verani iscritto alla 10 Km (federnuoto.it).
To reach the two quota places Acerenza and Verani have to finish in the first 13 at Doha 10 km. If this will happen, Verani will give up his spot to Paltrinieri for the Olympic race. So, Verani has the Doha 10 km as individual goal (best position for him, hopefully a podium or a near podium position) and being part of team goal (two Olympic qualification spots).
So let’s say a disaster happens, and only Acerenza is in the top 13 at Doha, Paltrinieri will still be able to swim the open water at Paris using his 1500 qualification time right?
This would be a real disaster because how to say at Acerenza: “give up your place to Paltrinieri”? Paltrinieri would be the first to say that Acerenza has to swim the Olympic 10 km race.
Correction: there is another chance for the athletes with a 800 or 1500 QT, within the two per nation rule, so you’re right.
But in this scenario, both Acerenza and Paltrinieri will be able to swim open water at Paris, since Acerenza secured a spot at Doha, and Paltrineri via 1500 time. The 800/1500 times create another pathway for countries to secure Olympic spots in open water. The only criterion is that the 2 per country rule still applies. Essentially, Verani is like a backup option in case Acerenza cannot finish in the top 13.
You’re totally right
Definitely a big gamble. The men’s and women’s 10K in Doha will be hyper-competitive. Verani will likely do his best to stay close to Acerenza, who is almost always on the podium in big races, or very close to it.
Still, open water is totally different than pool. More often than not, surprises occur, especially if a pack of swimmers are close at the finish. It’s easy to end up 14th or 15th, with only a few seconds separating the final podium finisher and the next dozen swimmers who arrive almost in unison. Paltinieri could indeed end up swimming just the 800 and 1500 in Paris if a tight finish occurs.
I wonder if he just wants a fresh look at Hafnaoui to remind him that the road to Paris gold still runs through Rome, just like did with Finke at 2022 Worlds in the 1500. That race is his baby, and it had to hurt to see those guys so close to the record he’s been chasing his entire career.
Paltrinieri has had a disappointing experience (a rare one indeed for him) at Fukuoka after the OW. He’s nearly 30 and Doha’s 800 and 1500 free will be a serious test to understand if he’ll be competitive for Paris podium. He want to swim these Doha races in better conditions than at Doha, so no 10 km for him (but he’ll swim the 5 km)
But other sources say Paltrinieri is already qualified for open water via achieving the 1500m Olympic Qualifying Standard in the pool. (https://www.swim4lifemagazine.it/2024/02/01/paltrinieri-escluso-doha/)
Braden, if I remember, swimmers who qualified to 1500 (Not sure about 800) can swim OW if they want to… So If only 1 italian qualifies here… Paltrinieri will also be able to swim it..
Indeed both the 800 and 1500 pool swimmers in Paris will be welcomed to join the Olympic Marathon race. Any Federation without both slots filled can take advantage of this additional qualifying caveat this year. We petitioned the IOC to allow us to add these positions as we were forced to drop three positions to help aquatic sports meet their limited quota of total athletes, even though at every Olympic event since 2008 we have had 25 invitees. We believe this is a good way to build our numbers up while not adding any additional competitors to the Olympic Games.
It is also correct that all qualifications this week will earn a slot for federations to decide how they… Read more »