Charlotte Bonnet (center) was in a class of her own. © swimmeeting

A French woman is making history at the rectory

Noè Ponti and Charlotte Bonnet are the big dominators of the South Tyrol Swim Meeting 2023, which celebrated its 27th edition since 1997 this weekend at the rectory in Bolzano.

05 November 2023

From: det

The Swiss Ponti, Olympic bronze medalist in the 100m dolphin 2021 in Tokyo, won all three races he contested. Bonnet's performances, on the other hand, were historic: the Frenchwoman set a new record. Never before has an athlete in Bolzano managed to win six races in one weekend.

In total, the audience in the Albert Pircher Hall saw five new meeting records. Three from Ponti, one from Bonnet and one from Silvia Scalia on Sunday in the 50m backstroke. In 26,99 seconds she beat Kira Toussaint's 27,12 from 2017.
Ponti didn't just win three races, he set new standards. After setting his event record from last year in the 50 m dolphin in 22,77 on Saturday and chasing the meeting record in the 100 m individual medley from Thomas Ceccon (52,79) in 52,49, he also beat 100 today m dolphin is the first to arrive. In 100 seconds he was three hundredths of a second faster than a year ago.

Bonnet's achievement for the history books

Charlotte Bonnet dominated in Bolzano like no one before her. Six starts, six wins, plus the meeting record on Saturday in the 100 m individual medley in 58,60 (previously Natalie Coughlin 58,72 in 2011) are impressive. After four wins on Saturday (100 m freestyle, 50 m breaststroke, 50 m dolphin, 100 m individual medley), the Frenchwoman won twice today. She won the 100 m breaststroke in 1.05,45:1.06,04 ahead of Rachel Bernhardt from the USA (1.06,54:50) and the Russian Nika Godun (24,72:25,08). At the end she was unbeatable in the 25,62 m freestyle in 50. The Azzurre Chiara Tarantino (XNUMX) and Elena Di Liddo (XNUMX) landed on the places. Bonnet was really happy: “I’m the first person to win here six times? That's good. I wanted to win all my races. It was tough on Saturday with four races. Today I did a good time in the XNUMXm freestyle.”

Many fans didn't miss the spectacle.

Di Liddo won the 100m dolphin in 58,49 ahead of Alessia Polieri (58,49). “It's not a great time, but it's important for me to be able to race again after shoulder surgery. The shoulder is fine again,” assured Di Liddo. Scalia was happy with the victory in the 50m backstroke and with the 1000 euro prize money she received for the record, but not with the time: “I was hoping to be a little faster,” she admitted.

Simone Stefanì celebrated a double victory. After the 100m backstroke on Saturday, he also won the 50m backstroke today in 23,83, but missed the meeting record by three tenths of a second, coming ahead of Thierry Bollin (24,48) and Tommaso Coccato (24,85). “I had a fever a few days ago, but I wanted to swim here,” said Stefanì. Surprise man Gabriele Brambillaschi also took two wins at the weekend, who after the 100 m freestyle today also won the 50 m freestyle in a very good 21,80 seconds ahead of the Dutchman Thom De Boer (22,04) and the 15-year-old Lithuanian Tajus Juska (22,60). “I'm happy, the time is very good. The meeting was a good test for the Italian championship,” said Brambillaschi. The victory in the 100 m breaststroke went to Jeremy Desplanches. The Swiss, who was third in the 2021 m individual medley in Tokyo 200, won in 1.00,07:1.02,28 ahead of Victor Rusinov from Bulgaria (XNUMX:XNUMX).