Thomas Ceccon Books Defence Of World Title At Italian Championships

Thomas Ceccon - Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Scala / deepbluemedia

Thomas Ceccon Books Defence Of World Title At Italian Championships

Thomas Ceccon booked his ticket to a defence of his 100 back world title on day two of the Italian Championships in Riccione.

The championships are the first of two meets where swimmers can book a spot on the team for Fukuoka with the second being the Sette Colli – held at the iconic Foro Italico – in June.

Ceccon set a world record of 51.60 en-route to gold in Budapest last year ahead of Ryan Murphy and Hunter Armstrong as the first three men home went inside 52.

On Friday, the 22-year-old split 25.78/27.58 to clinch top spot and a trip to Japan in 53.56 ahead of Michele Lamberti (54.52) and Lorenzo Mora (54.75).

Federico Poggio & Nicolo Martinenghi: Photo Courtesy: LEN

Federico Poggio surprised Budapest champion Nicolo Martinenghi with victory in the 100br in 58.73.

The Tokyo Olympian – who won silver behind his Italian teammate at the 2022 European Championships – went out in 27.27 to turn 0.37 ahead of Martinenghi and came back in 31.46 to book his place on the team for Fukuoka.

Martinenghi’s time of 59.06 was also good enough for qualification.

Federico Burdisso – the Tokyo 200 fly bronze medallist – won the 50 in 23.52 but has yet to qualify for worlds after his time in coming second in the four-length event on Thursday was outside the cut.

Martina Carraro upgraded 100br silver to 200 gold in 2:24.22 and will have to wait another two months to qualify.

Simona Quadarella – already on the team in the 800 – won the 200 free in 1:59.41, Ilaria Bianchi took the 100 fly in 58.45 and Silvia Scalia won the 50 back although her time of 28.04 was outside the cut.

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