Thomas Ceccon Scares Italian Record In SCM 200 IM At Nico Sapio

2023 NICO SAPIO TROPHY

The 2023 Nico Sapio Trophy kicked off today from Genoa with the meet representing a veritable ‘who’s who’ of Italian swimming. The 3-day competition offers another opportunity for swimmers to qualify for this year’s European Short Course Championships slated for Romania next month.

As a refresher, at the bottom of this post are the minimum time standards needed to be achieved by Italian swimmers to make the squad. However, a solid contingent of athletes have already been pre-qualified for Romania due to performances achieved earlier in the season. That list is also presented below.

One of those athletes pre-qualified is World Record holder Thomas Ceccon. 22-year-old Ceccon took on the men’s 200m IM to kick off his campaign and did so in style. His winning effort of 1:51.90 grabbed the gold and established a new lifetime best for the versatile ace.

Entering this competition, Ceccon’s fastest 2IM rested at the 1:52.49 he logged for silver at the 2021 edition of the European Short Course Championships. That means he knocked over half a second off of that previous result and Ceccon also came within half a second of Alberto Razzetti‘s national record of 1:51.54 established at the 2021 World Championships.

Ceccon now ranks #1 in the world in this event and his 1:51.90 also scores a new meet record.

Also establishing a new #1 time in the world was Ilaria Cusinato en route to her victory in the women’s 200m fly.

24-year-old Cusinato clocked a time of 2:06.19 to represent one of two swimmers under 2:07 in tonight’s final. Joining her was Alessia Polieri who touched in 2:06.76 while Antonella Crispino also landed on the podium in 2:08.64 as the bronze medalist.

Although Cusinato dethroned Australia’s Bella Grant to wear the world rankings crown, her time fell short of the 2:05 needed for Romania.

World Championships multi-medalist Benedetta Pilato was also in the water tonight doing her thing in the women’s 50m breast. The 18-year-old roared to the wall in a mark of 29.43, but she wasn’t alone in sub-30-second territory.

Just nipping the barrier was Martina Carraro who claimed silver in 29.98. Both women are already pre-qualified for Romania and now place #2 and #5, respectively, in the season’s world rankings.

Additional Notes

• Pre-qualified Olympic medalist Simona Quadarella got her hands on the wall first in the women’s 400m free, notching 4:00.12. Anna Egorova of Russia snagged silver in 4:02.40.
• The women’s 100m free saw Chiara Tarantino get the edge on Sofia Morini by just .01. Tarantino nabbed gold in 53.15, a new personal best by .20 while Morini touched in 53.16.
• Just 30 minutes after her 200m fly, Cusinato dove back in for the women’s 400m IM. She captured silver in 4:33.96 while Francesca Fresia earned the gold in 4;33.53.
• Nailing a #1 time in the world in the 200m breast was Francesca Fangio. She touched in 2:19.99, although she needed to be 2:19.7 to qualify for Romania.
• Paolo Conte Bonin stopped the clock in 1:43.97 to take the men’s 200m free.
• Pre-qualified Simone Cerasuolo earned 100m breast gold in 57.97.
• The men’s 50m free saw Alessandro Miressi top Lorenzo Zazzeri 21.29 to 21.33 in the race.

ATHLETES PRE-QUALIFIED FOR THE 2023 EUROPEAN SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS

Gregorio Paltrinieri  
Thomas Ceccon  
Lorenzo Mora 
Nicolò Martinenghi 
Sara Franceschi  
Alessandro Miressi  
Simone Cerasuolo  
Benedetta Pilato  
Simona Quadarella  
Anita Bottazzo  
Alberto Razzetti  
Leonardo Deplano  
Federico Poggio
Margherita Panziera  
Lisa Angiolini  
Martina Carraro
Marco De Tullio  
Sofia Morini  
Luca De Tullio