Winter Italian Championships: Gregorio Paltrinieri and Alberto Razzetti win individual Olympic passes

The first evening of finals of the winter version of the Italian Championships ended with a tally of two individual Olympic passes. At the Stadio del Nuoto in Riccione, in the opening session, Gregorio Paltrinieri secured his spot at the 2024 Summer Games in Paris. The Italian phenomenon (photo Andrea Staccioli/DBM) dominated the first heat of the 1500 freestyle, completing the event in 14:41.38 and demolishing the Federation's set time limit of 14:44.0. For “Super Greg,” therefore, the doors to the Games have swung open wide for the fourth time in his career. In the pool, he proudly holds the gold from Rio in 2016 (1500m freestyle) and the silver medal he claimed two years ago in Tokyo (800m freestyle). In the penultimate final of the day, Alberto Razzetti excelled and snatched an individual pass for Paris 2024 by winning the 200m medley event with a time of 1:56.21. Alberto Razzetti's remarkable performance, the sixth all-time best in Europe, kept the Ligurian well below the time limit (1:57.00), enabling him to improve on the Italian record he had previously established. For “Razzo” (photo ANSA), already a protagonist in Tokyo 2020, the French Games will be the second Olympics of his career. Italian swimming can celebrate its second and third quota pass for the Olympic event in Paris, the first two at a ranking level after the national place guaranteed to Italy by the men’s 4x100 freestyle relay at the last World Championships in Fukuoka (Japan).