2025 Italian Championships Day 5 Prelims: Breaststrokers Take Center Stage on Final Day

By Sam Blacker on SwimSwam

2025 ITALIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Riccione – Swimming Stadium Pool
• April 13–17, 2025
• Prelims at 10am local (4am ET)/Senior Finals at 6pm local (12pm ET)
• World Championships Qualification
• SwimSwam Italia Event Page
• Entries
• Day 1 Prelims Recap | Day 2 Prelims Recap | Day 3 Prelims Recap | Day 4 Prelims Recap
• Day 1 Finals Live Recap | Day 2 Finals Live Recap | Day 3 Finals Live Recap | Day 4 Finals Live Recap
• Live Results
• Livestream

The 2025 Italian Championships wrap up today with a sprint-and-distance session, with three 50’s and three events 400m or further. Of note, the following swimmers have added their names to the World Championships team for this summer, although there will be an additional opportunity at the Sette Colli trophy in June as well.

World Championships Qualifiers Through Day 3:

1. Simona Quadarella – women’s 800m free
2. Anita Bottazzo – women’s 100m breast
3. Lisa Angiolini – women’s 100m breast
4. Leonardo Deplano – men’s 50m free
5. Nicolo Martinenghi – men’s 100m breaststroke
6. Sara Franceschi – women’s 200m IM
7. Anita Gastaldi – women’s 200m IM
8. Sara Curtis– women’s 100m free, women’s 50m free

Women’s 50m Breaststroke

Anita Bottazzo led the way in the women’s 50m breaststroke this morning, swimming her third-ever best time to go 30.39 to lead the heats by half a second.

Her PB stands at the 30.02 she swam in the semi-finals of the 2023 World Championships. She would go on to finish 5th in the final in a time of 30.11, and took silver at the inaugural European U23 championships later that summer in a time of 30.59.

She also swam this event at the Doha World championships last year, finishing 13th in semi-finals in a time of 30.89, so she is already well ahead of where she was last season.

Bottazzo has just finished up her freshman year at Florida, where she took ninth at NCAAs in the 100 yard breastroke, and had a great meet at the Westmont Pro Swim Series two weeks prior, going 30.65/1:07.32. After smashing her best time in the 100m breaststroke with a 1:05.82 on Day 1, the 30-second barrier will be in her sights this evening.

Behind her Lisa Angiolini and Ariana Castiglioni broke 31 seconds in 30.89 and 30.93 respectively, as they set themselves up for a repeat podium from the 100m event.

Angiolini has already booked a spot on the Singapore team with a 1:06.01 to take second behind Bottazzo in the 100, running down Castiglioni in the final metres, but both will have work to do if they want to hit the time of 30.29 here.

There was no Benedetta Pilato in the field, as the Italian and World Junior Record holder has been absent from this meet after pulling out of the 100m breaststroke final on Day 1.

Men’s 50m Breaststroke

A familiar duo led the way in the Men’s event, as the top-two from the 100m event took the top two seeds in the shorter distance. Nicolo Martinenghi just edged out Simone Cerasuolo, 27.15 to 27.19, as Ludovico Viberti made sure to make it into the ‘A’ final this time with a time of 27.36 to capture third spot.

Viberti missed out on the ‘A’ final in the 100m breaststroke on Day 2, going 1:01.36 in prelims to take ninth before blasting to a new PB of 59.04 in the ‘B’ final. That made him the #3 Italian all-time and was faster than Martinenghi’s winning time from the ‘A’ final, but due to the Italian Swimming Federation’s regulations will not qualify him for Singapore as only ‘A’ final times are considered. He’ll have another chance at that distance at the Sette Colli at the end of June .

His best time in the shorter event is 26.80 from the Sette Colli last year, the third-fastest PB in the field. Martinenghi is the Italian Record holder with the 26.32 he went to win World Champs in 2023, but Simone Cerasuolo isn’t far behind with the 26.53 he went at this competition last year.

Federico Poggio is the final man in the field to have broken 27 seconds, and will swim out of lane 2 tonight after going 27.65.

Women’s 400m Freestyle

Simona Quadarella swam a relaxed 4:12.48 to put herself into lane 4 for the 400m freestyle fina tonight, where she will be flanked by Linda Caponi (4:14.66) and 1500m runner-up Noemi Cesarano (4:14.81).

The time required for Singapore is a stiff 4:06.09, and with only Quadarella having broken 4:10 in this field it will likely be her against the clock tonight as she aims to complete the 400-800-1500 sweep.

Her best time stands at 4:03.35 from 2018, although she was only 4:06.55 here last year. Having already qualified in the 800m freestyle on day 1, she may get the chance to swim this if she can beat the WA ‘A’ cut of 4:10.23.

The surprise 200m champ, 14-year-old Alessandro Mao, added to her entry time to go 4:27.07.

Men’s 400m IM

No one broke 4:20 this morning in a sleepy set of heats for the 400 IM, with Pier Matteazzi leading the way in 4:20.32. The bigger story was who was not swimming, with Italian Record Holder and World Short Course bronze-medalist Alberto Razzetti a no-show this morning. After just missing out of the automatic qualification standards in both the 200 fly and 200 IM he may now be targeting the Sette Colli meet to stamp his ticket to Singapore.

He was well under the WA ‘A’ cut in both of those however, and would likely be taken as a discretionary pick regardless. It would be a surprise to see him drop the 400 IM this season after a successful short course season in the event and a fifth-place finish in Paris where he was less than a tenth off his National Record.

Matteazzi powered ahead on the breaststroke this morning, jumping from fourth at halfway to first within 50 metres. His 1:12.65 split was the only one under 1:13 this morning and have him the buffer he needed to take lane 4 for tonight.

Fellow 200 IM finalist Simone Spediacci was close behind to take second in 4:20.98, going out fast on the first half of the race as he did in the shorter event. He was less than 1.5 seconds off his best time of 4:19.58 from the Sette Colli last year.

With the qualification standard a speedy 4:11.99, a drop will be required for anyone to make the cut. Matteazzi’s best time of 4:12.79 from 2021 is less than a second away, although he was only 4:14.90 last year.

We will also have an entirely different podium to the 200 IM, as Christian Mantegazza dropped the event after his 200 breaststroke win yesterday and Alberto Tredici was not entered.

Women’s 200m backstroke

Without stalwart Margherita Panziera in the field it was subdued prelims of the 200m backstroke, with Francesca Furfaro claiming top spot in 2:13.23 and a 2:15.36 required to make the final.

With 2:08.99 required for Singapore, it’s unlikely we’ll see anybody add their name to the team in this event.

Furfaro, Francesca Pasquino and Aurora Velati are the only swimmers to return from the 100m backstroke final as we may see another event with high turnover on the podium. Pasquino has taken silver and bronze in the 50 and 100 backstroke respectively so far, and will be hoping for a third podium here.

Women’s 50m Fly

Italian Record holder Silvia Di Pietro was just four-tenths off her best time as she sped to a time of 26.18 to lead the heats by 0.30 seconds. Six women broke 27 seconds as the entire podium from the 100 qualified for tonight’s final, even with the in-form Sara Curtis a no-show.

The Singapore qualification time is a tenth under Di Pietro’s record and may be out of reach here, but the 32-year-old has set herself up well with her swim this morning.

Ilaria Bianchi, who had the second-fastest PB of anyone in the field with her 26.38 from 2019, missed out in tenth.

Men’s 1500m Freestyle – Early Heats

Filippo Renaldi led the way this morning, as the Livorno swimmer dropped 14 seconds from his entry time to go 15:22.34 and win the heat by over 10 seconds. That’s faster than three of the entrants in the fastest heat tonight, although well off the time required for Singapore.

There was a ferocious battle for second behind him, as Dario Verani and Pasquale Sanzullo were neck-and-neck for the final 400 metres. Verani ran Sanzullo down on the final 50 with a rapid 28.13 split to win the battle by just 0.06, 15:33.90 to 15:33.96

Read the full story on SwimSwam: 2025 Italian Championships Day 5 Prelims: Breaststrokers Take Center Stage on Final Day