2016 Italian Spring Nationals and Olympic Trials: Day 4 Finals

2016 Italian Assoluti National Championships and Olympic Trials

• Dates: Tuesday, April 19 – Saturday, April 23, 2016
• Times: prelims 9:00 am, finals 5 pm
• Location: Riccione, Italy (GMT +1, or 6 hours ahead of N.Y., 9 ahead of L.A.)
• Results: Available
• Championship Central

The Italian Spring Assoluti National Championships and Olympic Trials opened in Riccione on Tuesday, with 574 athletes from 141 teams. The meet is doubling as a selection meet for the Italian teams who will compete at 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, the 2016 LEN European Championships in London in May, and the 2016 European Junior Championships. The Italian qualifying standards for Rio are a bit complicated; we have outlined the standards in our Day One recap here.

Women’s 200 Freestyle Final

• Italian Record: Federica Pellegrini (CC Aniene), 1:52.98 – Rome, 2009
• Olympic Qualifying Time A: 1:56.7
• Olympic Qualifying Time B: 1:57.5
• Olympic Qualifying Time C: 1:58.8

Federica Pellegrini (CC Aniene) proved she is ready for her fourth Olympic Games this summer by blasting a 1:55.30 to win the women’s 200 free, swimming uncontested at her national championships. Out in a 55.7, she was home in 59.6 for the fourth-fastest time in the world so far this season.

Defending champion Alice Mizzau (Yellow Flames / Team Veneto) was first among the rest of the field, leading them from start to finish. She placed second in 1:58.71. Martina de Memme (Army / Livorno) edged Stefania Pirozzi (Rome Golden Flames / CC Napoli) and Erica Musso (Rome Golden Flames / Andrea Doria) for third, thanks to a strong third 50 that kept her in front of that next wave of swimmers. De Memme went 1:59.33 to Pirozzi’s 1:59.52 and Musso’s 1:59.74.

Rounding out the final were Chiara Masini Luccetti (Forestry / Livorno) in 2:00.28, Alice Nesti (Army / Pistoies) with 2:00.30, and Linda Caponi (Toscana Empoli) with 2:01.35.

Men’s 200 IM Final

• Italian Record: Alessio Boggiatto (Sisport Fiat Torino), 1:58.33 – Rome, 2009
• Olympic Qualifying Time A: 1:58.2
• Olympic Qualifying Time B: 1:58.8

Federico Turrini (Army / Livorno) won his third national title in a row, each year about a half-second faster than the previous, but he missed the Rio auto standard by 1.4 seconds. Second place went to Giovanni Sorriso (CC Aniene) in 2:00.68, whose strong breaststroke leg had pulled him from fourth to first place headed into the freestyle. Lorenzo Glessi (Army / Gorizia) took third in 2:01.79, just out of reach of Luca Angelo Dioli (Forestry / Insubrika), whose very strong second half nearly put him on the podium; Dioli touched fourth in 2:01.85.

2015 runner-up Davide Cova (SMGM Team Lombardy) went 2:02.06 for fifth. Sixth through eighth belonged to Lorenzo Tarocchi (SMGM Team Lombardy) in 2:02.91, Gabriele Minichini (Imolanuoto) in 2:03.01, and Gianluca Maiorana (Larus) in 2:03.73.

Women’s 50 Backstroke Final

• Italian Record: Elena Gemo, 28.27 – Rome, 2009

After a second-place finish in 2015, Italian record-holder Elena Gemo (Forest / CC Aniene) took her place on the top step of the podium this year with a narrow win in the 50 back. Gemo touched in 28.34, 3/10 faster than a year ago. Defending champion Arianna Barbieri (Yellow Flames / Blue 91) was .09 back with 28.43. Silvia Scalia (SMGM Team Lombardy) rounded out the podium with 28.51.

Tania Quaglieri (Sea Sub Modena) finished fourth in 28.53, breaking both the Italian youth and junior records in the event. Quaglieri is born in 2000.

Men’s 50 Freestyle Final

• Italian Record: Marco Orsi, 21.82 – Riccione, 2009
• Olympic Qualifying Time A: 21.8
• Olympic Qualifying Time B: 22.0

The crowd in the stands at Riccione may be missing Marco Ossi this week, but Luca Dotto (Forest / Larus) given them another reason to celebrate Italian sprints. Dotto has not wasted the opportunity to establish himself among the world’s best; he broke the Italian national record leading off the 4×100 free relay last night, and tonight he rattled the national mark in the 50. Dotto won the race with 21.91, tying for 10th in the world this season. Only 11 men have gone under the 22 seconds barrier.

Federico Bocchia (De Akker Team), third last year after Ossi and Dotto, earned the silver medal with a very quick 22.06.

Only .50 separated third from eighth. The bronze medal went to Giuseppe Guttuso (Promogest – Cagliari) in 22.30. Next came Piero Codia (Army / CC Aniene) with 22.50, Andrea Vergani (Gestisport) with 22.56, Lucio Spadaro (Rome Golden Flames) with 22.63, Michele Santucci (Blue Flames / Larus) with 22.70), and Leonardo Vimercati (Gestisport) with 22.80.

Women’s 50 Breaststroke Final

• Italian Record: Roberta Panara, 31.08 – Riccione, 2009

Last year’s runner-up, Martina Carraro (Blue 91), edged Italian record-holder Arianna Castiglioni (Yellow Flames / Team Insubrika) in this year’s final. Carraro was 3/10 faster than last year with a time of 30.86, while Castiglioni took second with 31.02. Ilaria Scarcella (CC Aniene), who had held the youth record before Castiglioini broke it last year at this meet, finished third in 31.56.

Men’s 800 Freestyle Final

• Italian Record: Gregorio Paltrinieri, 7:40.81 – Kazan, 2015

Gabriele Detti (Army / SMGM Team Lombardy) improved his world ranking by one spot, taking 1.8 seconds off his previous season-best with a win in this non-Olympic distance event with 7:48.19.

Detti was all alone from early on; he had already put a body length between himself and the rest of the field by the 100. There was a nice race going on for second place, though, between Samuel Pizzetti (Police / Milan) and Domenico Acerezna (Larus). Pizzetti kept himself just about a body length ahead of Acerenza throughout most of the second half of the race, which proved too much to overcome when the latter turned on the jets over the final 50 meters. Pizzetti finished second in 7:58.37; Acerenza was third with 7:59.67.

Women’s 4×100 Medley Relay Final

• Italian Club Record: CC Aniene, 4:01.64 – Riccione, 2015

The quartet from CC Aniene claimed yet another national title in the 400 medley relay, but were about 2 seconds slower than they had been when they destroyed their own national club record last year at this meet. Margherita Panziera (1:01.64), Scarcella (1:08.26), Elena Di Liddo (59.32), and Pellegrini (54.53) combined for 4:03.75, coming to the wall ahead of second-place Yellow Flames (4:05.77) and third-place Army (4:05.84).

Men’s 4×100 Medley Relay Final

• Italian Club Record: Rome Golden Flames, 3:35.19 – Riccione, 2015

In a thrilling finish to the penultimate night of competition at the 2016 Italian Spring Nationals, Army got their revenge on Rome Golden Flames who had touched them out for the national record a year ago. This time around they turned the tables and put their names in the record books with a 3:35.11-to-3:35.30 win over the defending champions. Army’s effort began with a 54.00 backstroke leg from Simone Sabbioni and continued with Fabio Scozzoli (1:00.07), Piero Codia (50.97), and Nicolangelo di Fabio (50.07).

Golden Flames (Christopher Ciccarese, Edoardo Giorgetti, Matteo Rivolta, and Luca Leonardi) took second while Yellow Flames (Fabio Laugeni, Andrea Toniato, Giacomo Carini, and Gianluca Maglia) were third in 3:36.94.