Italy’s Benedetta Pilato Cracks a World Cup Record in Saturday’s Prelims

2023 WORLD AQUATICS SWIMMING WORLD CUP – BUDAPEST

• Friday, October 20th – Sunday, October 22nd
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Italian teenager Benedetta Pilato cracked a new World Cup Record in prelims of the Swimming World Cup in Budapest on Saturday to kick off the second day of the final stop of racing in this year’s series.

Pilator raced to a 1:05.75 in the heats, which is just .05 seconds shy of her lifetime best in the event done at the 2022 Italian National Championships. In her first racing since July’s World Championships, that is easily a calendar year best for Pilato, clearing a 1:07.68 done at a local meet in June. She didn’t race the 100 breast at the World Championships but did win bronze in the 50.

That swim broke Alia Atkinson’s 2015 record of 1:05.93.

Splits Comparisons:

Given how Pilato split her heats swim, with a conservative first 50, a best time could be in the cards for finals.

The Italian Record is 1:05.69, just ahead of her own personal best of 1:05.70.

Her swim on Saturday put her more than a second ahead of the field, with Dutch swimmer Tes Schouten qualifying 2nd in 1:06.69 and Irish swimmer Mona McSharry qualifying 3rd in 1:06.78. Both swimmers have been 1:05s in their careers and should challenge in finals – especially Schouten, who broke the Dutch Record in the 200 breast on Friday.

Crowns Update

Almost every event on Saturday has a potential Crowns winner. Swimmers who sweep an event at all three stops of the World Cup Series are awarded ‘crowns’ and given a $10,000 bonus prize.

• Men’s 50 back – Michael Andrew (USA) swam 24.89 in prelims, which is already almost as fast as he was in finals last weekend in Athens. A relative-unknown 18-year-old Miroslav Knedla from Czech Republic was 2nd in the heats in 25.01. He has been 24.63 and so is a threat here.
• Women’s 200 free – Siobhan Haughey (Hong Kong) cruised to the 5th slot in prelims in 1:59.27 behind Hungary’s Nikolett Padar (1:58.04). Haughey has been controlled in her heats swims all week long, and there’s no reason to doubt her ability to turn it on for finals.
• Men’s 200 IM – Matt Sates (South Africa) swam 1:59.78 in heats of the 200 IM, chasing the Crown for the event, but hot on his heels are a rejuvenated Danas Rapsys (2:00.05) and Switzerland’s Noe Ponti (2:00.33), who had a very good 100 fly swim on Friday.
• Women’s 100 back – Kaylee McKeown (Australia) smashed the World Record in the 50 backstroke on Friday, but was more measured in her prelims swim on Saturday. She’s the 2nd qualifier in 59.91 behind Canadian Kylie Masse (59.37).
• Men’s 50 breast – Qin Haiyang (China) continued his incredible run this season with a 26.57 in heats of the 50 breast, ahead of Arno Kamminga (27.00), Ilya Shymanovich (27.01), and the World Record holder Adam Peaty (27.05). American Nic Fink had the same time as Peaty in the morning, albeit from a different heat.
• Women’s 50 fly – Sarah Sjostrom (Sweden), after another sub-24 freestyle swim on Friday, took the top seed in the 50 fly on Saturday. She has broken the World Cup Record in finals of each of the last two meets, lowering it to a 24.97 in Athens. China’s Zhang Yufei was 2nd in the heats in 25.56.
• Men’s 100 free – Thomas Ceccon (Italy) is best known as the 100 backstroke World Record holder, but has been flexing his versatility during the World Cup season. He had the top swim in the heats of the men’s 100 free in 48.73, with Dylan Carter (48.92), Alessandro Miressi (48.94), and Zac Incerti (48.99) not far behind.
• Men’s 200 fly – Matthew Sates (South Africa) is the only swimmer with designs on a double crown on Saturday, and he has gotten pretty good at pacing himself through that tough schedule. He cruised to a 2:01.01 in the heats of the 200 fly, sliding into the final as the 7th seed by half-a-second. Hungary’s Richard Marton was the top qualifier in 1:59.04.