Commonwealth Warning Shots: Le Clos 51.36 1Fly, Proud 21.61 In Milan

8° TROFEO CITTÀ DI MILANO

• March 9-11th, Milan
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Commonwealth Games-bound studs Chad Le Clos of South Africa and Ben Proud of Great Britain (England) put on a fireworks show on day 2 of the Trofeo Citta Di Milano. After cranking out wins yesterday in their respective events of the 200m fly and 50m fly, Le Clos and Proud turned up the heat once again to prove they’re ready to go for the Gold Coast less than 4 weeks from now.

In the 100m fly tonight, multiple Olympic medalist Le Clos thew down a monster 51.36 to take gold in his fastest performance of the season. Spitting 24.02/27.34, Le Clos represented the only competitor to dip under the 52 second threshold, as the 25-year-old beat the field by well over a second. Italy’s Matteo Rivolta settled for silver in 52.90.

For prolific flyer Le Clos, tonight’s outing checks-in among his personal top 10 performances and now ranks him as 3rd in the world.

The South African also wreaked havoc in the 200m freestyle event, taking the top prize in a swift 1:48.32, .04 faster than what Le Clos was at his nation’s Commonwealth Games Trials. Frenchman Jordan Pothain set himself with the pole position after the top morning effort of 1:49.68, but was unable to hold-off Le Clos. Pothain earned silver for France in a time of 1:49.96.

For Proud’s part, the thoroughbred followed up on his 50 fly victory from last night with an eye-popping 50m freestyle performance tonight. Blasting off the block, the Energy Standard swimmer clinched the win easily in a mark of 21.61, his 2nd fastest of the season. The world champion already ranks as the #1 swimmer in this event so far this season with the 21.52 clocked at the International Meet Uster last month.

Ilaria Cusinato crushed a time of 4:39.66 to win the women’s 400m IM tonight. Cusinato had never before been under the 4:40 threshold, with her previous personal best sitting at the 4:40.70 from Riccione last year, and her best before that represented by 4:42.18 from 2016.

Cusinato’s effort tonight checks the European Short Course bronze medalists in as the 9th fastest in the world right now.

In the all-Italian women’s 200 butterfly final, national record holder Ilaria Bianchi proved too much for the field to handle, as the 100m fly champion from yesterday cranked out another near-best personal time. Stopping the clock at 2:10.38 (1:02.34/1:08.04), Bianchi produced her 3rd best time ever, touching just over a second off her career-fastest of 2:09.12 that rendered her 13th after prelims in Budapest. She wound up scratching the semi-finals at those World Championships.

Alessia Polieri was runner-up in the race, finishing also in a 2:10-time of 2:10.95, while Aurora Retronio was well behind the leaders in 2:15.52 to round out the top 3.

Charlotte Bonnet produced another double win tonight, taking 2 golds within just minutes of one another. Bonnet first won the women’s 50m fly in a solid 26.63 over Italy’s Elena Di Liddo, who finished in 26.74. Then, Bonnet got back in the pool to clinch the women’s 100m freestyle victory.

Clocking 55.32, Bonnet was able to beat out Italy’s Erika Ferraioli, who settled for silver in 55.82. Of note, Bonnet was faster in this morning’s prelim, producing the top seed of 54.66.

Additional Winners on the Day:

• Linda Caponi of Italy took the women’s 400m freestyle in 4:09.93, the only swimmer to dip under the 4:10 threshold tonight.
• The women’s 200m breaststroke saw the host nation’s Francesca Fangio race to the wall first, clinching the win in 2:29.04.
• Swiss swimmer Jeremy Desplanches was the winner of tonight’s 200m IM event, clocking a mark of 1:59.45 to crush the field by well over 2 seconds. Desplanches holds the Swiss national record with the 1:56.86 produced in Budapest last summer.
• Luca Mencarini stood atop the podium in the men’s 200m backstroke, touching in 2:00.13 for the win.
• The men’s 50m backstroke saw Mirco Di Tora get his hand on the wall first, earning the only sub-26 mark in 25.98.
• Czech athlete Simona Braumrtova wrangled in the women’s 100m backstroke victory in 1:00.41 over Britain’s Georgia Davies. Davies finished in 1:01.08 to follow-up on her 50m backstroke gold from night 1.
• Italy’s Fabio Scozzoli doubled up on his 50m breaststroke gold from last night with another win this evening. Scozzoli took the men’s 100m distance in 1:01.26.
• The women’s 50m breaststroke saw Martina Carraro of Italy race to the wall first in 31.63.
• Another Czech Republic victory came in the form of national record holder Jan Micka‘s win in the men’s 1500m freestyle. The 400m freestyle silver medalist from yesterday raced to a winning time of 15:13.22 after leading wire-to-wire. Frenchman Damien Joly was 2nd tonight in 15:14.20.