58TH SETTE COLLI TROPHY
- Friday, June 25th – Sunday, June 27th
- Swimming Stadium of the Foro Italico, Rome, Italy
- LCM (50m)
- Olympic Qualifying Competition
- Start Lists
- Live Results
- Day 1 Finals Recap
SwimSwam Italia’s Giusy Cisale captured these interviews.
South Africa’s Chad Le Clos placed 6th in the 100 fly on day one of the Sette Colli Trophy with a time of 51.87. This was his first sub-52 second 100 fly this season.
Le Clos, a two-time Olympic silver medalist in this event, described the butterfly fields heading into Tokyo as “unbelievable.” 200 fly World Record holder Kristof Milak of Hungary won gold in the 100 fly final with the only sub-51 second swim of the field: 50.89.
Le Clos shared with SwimSwam that he was in Hungary with Katinka Hosszu about two weeks ago and reached out to train with 21-year-old Milak.
“I wanted to train with him, but he said no,” he said. In the end, le Clos chalked it up to some miscommunication that was potentially due to their language barriers. “Obviously I wanted to do some sets with Milak…but he was very nice…he seems like a good kid. I’m happy for him and his success.”
The Netherlands’ Kira Toussaintstarted off her Setti Colli lineup with a non-Olympic event: the 50 back. She won silver behind Brazil’s Etiene Medeiros with a time of 27.79,
She’s looking forward to the 100 free and 100 back tomorrow after getting her first race out of the way. “I really wanted to be a little faster, but it’s okay,” she told SwimSwam after her race. “Onto the next one.”
The Netherlands’ Ranomi Kromowidjojo, one of the fastest women in the 50 free in the world this season, had a tight race in the 50 free with Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom on Friday with Sjostrom touching the wall first with a time of 25.42, .01 ahead of Kromowidjojo.
“I can’t wait to go into taper in two weeks,” Kromowidjojo said with a smile after her race.
She complimented the Australian’s 4×100 free team going into the Olympics. “They’re the absolute favorite..they have four -or I have to say six amazing girls. But anything can happen in the Olympics, especially in a final.”
The Netherlands’ Arno Kamminga won silver in the 100 breast Friday with a time of 58.40. In April, he became the second man in history to break 58.00 in this event by posting a time of 57.90n.
“I just went for it,” he told SwimSwam after the race. “I wanted to see if I could swim 57 again.”
When asked about the performances of some of his international competition (Great Britain’s Adam Peaty and Team USA’s Michael Andrew) he said he will try to race Peaty in Tokyo and Andrew swam a really good race at Trials.
“We’ll see what the pressure of the Olympic Games does with the rest of the people… I know I can swim 57 again there,” Kamminga said about Tokyo.
I’ve recently heard George Bovell say somewhere that he thinks the 50 free are the longest race, because there is such a huge mental aspect to it and because of all the mindgames that are played in the readyroom and even before that…. guess the 100fly is a month long competition now 🤔😉
I like Chad
Like Luca not swapping jerseys with Paul George.
But in the interview is Kamminga, not Martinenghi…
He’s so silly
Let the mindgames begin… I love it !🤣🤣🤣
Milak is certainly working on his race tactics apporaching the olympics. Of course he would say no. Le clos is bit sneaky anyway , so for sure he will use that to try to beat him (on the 100 fly at least)
Maybe Milak is just a ride or die Phelps fanboy