2020 ITALIAN OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Thursday, December 17th – Saturday, December 19th
- Riccione
- LCM (50m)
- Olympic Qualifying Event
- Timed Finals
- Italy’s Olympic Qualifying Procedures
- SwimSwam Italia Preview
- SwimSwam Preview
- Live Results
Now that the Italian Open Championships have fully concluded from Riccione, we can take stock as to which swimmers have booked their tickets to Tokyo for the postponed 2020 Olympic Games.
It’s important to note that there is a multi-qualification approach for Italian swimmers. First, from a competition standpoint, these championships from Riccione represented the second official domestic qualifying opportunity.
The initial Olympic selection competition was the Open Championships which took place in Riccione in December 2019. There, the following Italian swimmers qualified for the Games:
- Nicolo Martinenghi (100 meters breaststroke men)
- Simona Quadarella ( women’s 1500 freestyle)
- Gregorio Paltrinieri (men’s 1500m freestyle)
- Margherita Panziera (women’s 200 meters back)
There were just two names added to Olympic consideration from this past weekend’s Riccione competition, as young guns Thomas Ceccon and Benedetta Pilato each nailed times under the Federnuoto-dictated qualification minimums in their respective events.
19-year-old Ceccon snagged a new Italian national record in the men’s 100m back, posting a winning effort of 52.84. That represented a monster personal best for the multi-Youth Olympic Games medalist, also matching the stiff qualification mark of 52.8 needed for Tokyo.
As for Pilato, the 15-year-old also nabbed a new national record en route to qualifying for next year’s Games in the women’s 100m breast. Pilato stopped the clock in a speedy 1:06.02, getting under 1:07 for her first time ever. The Federnuoto qualification time for Tokyo rests at 1:06.4, so Pilato has made the team.
The next Olympic qualifying event will take place from March 27-31st as the Absolute Italian Championships.
As a final step to qualification, we reported how the DT Cesare Butini proposed the direct call of:
- Martina Rita Caramignoli (1500 women’s freestyle)
- Gabriele Detti (men’s 400 freestyle)
- Federica Pellegrini (women’s 200m freestyle) *
- Marco De Tullio (men’s 400 freestyle)
- Federico Burdisso (200 meters butterfly)
These appointments are not yet confirmed.
