Noè Ponti Looks Ahead To “A Great Battle In Paris” Amid A Golden Age Of 100 Fly Swimming
A line at the top of the biography section on Noè Ponti’s website states that it’s updated “once a year, during the month of August.”
It details the Swiss athlete’s achievements from his first race as a six-year-old in November 2007 through to the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka.
In the intervening years, the butterfly specialist has become an Olympic and European medallist and has made three trips to the global short-course podium.
There will be plenty to write about when the 23-year-old next takes to his keyboard.
In December 2023, Ponti clinched an historic fly treble, including a continental record of 48.47 over 100m, among four medals at the European Short-Course Championships in Otopeni.
Noè Ponti: Photo courtesy: European Aquatics
On to April 2024 and a Swiss Championships to make the world take notice.
There he went 22.65 and 50.16 in the 50 and 100 fly respectively – then sixth-fastest all-time in both events – while 1:54.59 over 200m propelled him to within 0.39 of his national record and what was then third in the 2024 rankings.
At the European Aquatics Championships in Belgrade last month, Ponti topped the 100 prelims in 51.09 before withdrawing with sickness from which he soon fully recovered.
Up next is Paris 2024 where Ponti will compete in his second Games, three years after winning 100 fly bronze in Tokyo.
And then to write the latest instalment of his odyssey.
Ponti told Swimming World:
“I’d like my update to be a very good update. As I said many times, we are working to do the best I can in Paris and I think if everything is going to work out it is going to be very good.
“So hopefully we are going to have a lot of things to write about in the biography.”
Turbulent Times All “Part Of The Process”
Ponti’s blistering 100 fly performance in Uster saw him lower his PB of 50.74 that secured bronze in Tokyo behind Caeleb Dressel and Kristof Milak.
Two years and nine months had elapsed since then during which he had to navigate some turbulent times.
He tested positive for Covid on his return from the 2022 worlds in Budapest and, such was the effect on his breathing, that Ponti went to see a lung specialist who diagnosed bronchial asthma.
Despite this, and the time spent out of the water, he won silver behind Milak at the Europeans in Rome in August that year before going on to claim 50 fly silver and 200 bronze at the World Short-Course Championships in Melbourne, Australia.
The following year, he arrived at the holding camp ahead of the Fukuoka worlds in top shape.
Noè Ponti: Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
However, for the first time Ponti felt the weight of media pressure with expectation heightened due to the absences of Dressel and Milak.
Furthermore, he and his team realised they’d started reducing his training load too early and that he’d peaked ahead of the competition.
Ponti finished seventh in the 100 fly in Japan and didn’t make the 50 or 200 finals as he fell short of the performance level that had guided him to the Olympic podium.
Honest conversations ensued with coaches Massimo Meloni and Andrea Mercuri at the National Training Centre in Tenero when he returned for the new season in September last year.
He competed on the World Cup tour before his success in Otopeni and then into what so far has been an Olympic year that promises much.
It has though at times been a path strewn with obstacles.
“So, it’s never easy, never nice, not being able to swim PBs or compete for medals I’d say, but I think it’s part of the process,” said Ponti.
“You have some ups, some downs, and what you have to do is keep training and believe in yourself and never give up because it can be one or two seasons that don’t go as planned but still, I had some very good results also those seasons.”
A Golden Age Of Fly Swimming
Six of the fastest eight men in history over 100 fly will converge on La Defense Arena.
Joining Ponti will be Dressel and Milak – who set world and European records of 49.45 and 49.68 respectively ahead of the Swiss in Tokyo – Josh Liendo (50.06 PB), Maxime Grousset (50.14) and Matt Temple (50.25).
Only Michael Phelps (49.82) and Milorad Cavic (49.95) – who rank third and fourth all-time – are not competing today.
Liendo tops the 2024 rankings with his Canadian record at the national trials in May ahead of Ponti and Dressel, who posted 50.19 at the US trials.
A golden age of fly swimming it seems as each man galvanises the next.
“I think it’s both,” said Ponti.
“I think it’s a great time for fly swimming and as well we are pushing each other along. If someone is swimming that fast you want to keep up with him.
“You’ve got to train harder and try harder and that’s what we are doing. I think that is the beauty of our sport: I think it’s going to be a great battle in Paris.”
Noè Ponti: Photo Courtesy: Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
Grousset won the 2023 world title in 50.14 ahead of Liendo (50.34) and the USA’s Dare Rose (50.46).
Ponti expects at least one man to go 49 in the final in Paris with a 50-point low to make the podium.
He added:
“But then we can talk about times as much as we want but it’s the Olympics and at the Olympics you never know.
“There might be three 49s in the semis, and then maybe you’ll win with 50.1 because in the final at the Olympics it is such a different environment.
“It is completely different than World Championships or European Championships.
“The pressure is different, everyone feels different with it, it’s not like world champs which are every two years and everything.
“These are the Olympics so only once every four years and you’re going to be able to swim good in that maybe two, three times maximum and you only have one shot.”
Finding The Right Strategy In The “So Very Hard” 200
Ponti stands eighth in the 200 rankings topped by Japan’s Tomoru Honda with his 1:53.88 en-route to gold at the World Championships in Doha.
He expects 1:53 low to make the podium, adding: “(Leon) Marchand will have a great shot at it so we are going to try and go fast as well but I think between 1:51 and 1:53 there are going to be medals.”
While he gives equal focus to both Olympic fly distances, Ponti struggles with the longer race which, he says, is “so very hard”.
Noè Ponti: Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
He has yet to find the right pacing pacing and stroke rate, especially on the first 100: the slower he goes out, the harder it gets.
“You are going to ‘die’ anyway, if you go out fast or slow, in the end you are going to be tired.
“So, it’s better to go out faster and probably close in the same way that you would close if you go out slower.”
He added:
“You get to the point where your legs…. you’re not as flexible as you used to be in the movement, the legs are hurting so bad that you can’t really use them that much anymore.
“The upper body – especially the arms and everything – are burning so it gets to the point where it’s hard to even keep going, to move.
“The thing is that you have to tell yourself it’s only going to be 10 more metres but those are the metres that make the difference in the 2-fly race.
“It’s really hard and painful ……it’s not fun let’s say for that moment but still if we’re doing it, it’s because we like doing it.”
“Kristof Did Something Incredible”
Lying second in the rankings is Milak, with a season’s best of 1:53.94 from the Monaco leg of the Mare Nostrum, his top time since 2022.
The Olympic champion only returned to competition at the Hungarian Championships in April after withdrawing from the 2023 worlds to focus on his mental health and then taking an extended break.
Milak sent ripples across the water the world over in July 2019 when he went 1:50.73 to lower Phelps’ WR of 1:51.51 that had stood for 10 years.
Kristof Milak: Photo Courtesy: Patrick B. Kraemer
Ponti said:
“Kristof did something incredible, I think. He broke it again in 2022 in Budapest (1:50.34) when I was swimming next to him and it wasn’t too nice, I’d say.
“It felt like I was going 1:58 and I still went 1:54.2. It wasn’t very fun.
“But it’s crazy what he did. Records are meant to be broken and sooner or later all records will be broken and people will swim faster.
“You just have to believe in that and that you can do it.
“Of course, I think most people won’t see 1:50 for a long time. I don’t know if Leon (Marchand) is capable of doing it, I’m not sure if I am able to swim that fast.
“I think I can come down to 1:52, 1:51, if it’s the perfect race but 1:50, it’s really tough.
“I think it’s great that there are people that can swim that fast and it just motivates you to swim faster and train harder.”
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