1 year before the Olympics in Tokyo – which South Tyroleans can dream?

3 years ago, 7 athletes from South Tyrol took part in the Olympic Games in Rio 2016: the divers Tania Cagnotto and Maicol Verzotto , the tennis players Karin Knapp and Andreas Seppi , the mountain biker Eve Lechner , the sports shooter Petra Zublasing and volleyball players Simone Giannelli . Actually, 8 would have qualified, but the walker Alex Schwazer was banned shortly before the games.

Of these 8 athletes, most are aiming for another Olympic start in Japan, in addition to other aspiring athletes. Unlike before Rio 2016, when Cagnotto and Zublasing had secured the Olympic starting place very early on, this time no one has qualified yet. But that is likely to change in the next few weeks and months. SportNews gives an overview of the qualification opportunities and criteria, sport by sport in alphabetical order.

BADMINTON For the two very young women from Bolzano Yasmine Hamza (15) and Katharina Fink (16), both of whom have already won Italian championship titles, the 2020 Olympics will probably come a little early. However, the world rankings from April 30, 2020, which will decide on the allocation of around 40 starting places, will be decisive. For the painters Kevin Strobl and Luke Osele , who are particularly strong as doubles, the same applies. BASKETBALL Team athletes have one more hurdle to overcome: In addition to qualifying for the national team for the Olympics, the athlete must of course also be called up to the Olympic team. This also applies to the people from Bolzano Alexander Lever and the Buchholz woman Kathrin Ress to. Lever has gone through all the youth national teams and was at the U2018 European Championships in 20, but he has not yet been called up to the A squad. Ress recently had to miss the 2019 European Championships due to injury. While Italy's men could secure their Olympic ticket at the World Cup in China in early September 2019 or at the Olympic qualifying tournament months later, the women only have the latter chance. CANOE SLALOM For the Merano canoeists Jacob and Matthias Weger and Jacob Luther Olympic qualification will be a difficult undertaking, simply because of the limit of a maximum of 2 athletes per country. Since internal competition is currently very high in Italy, this could Matthias Weger slight advantage, starting for Austria. An important date for the qualification dreams is the World Cup at the end of September 2019 in Spain.

Matthias Weger has his sights set on the Olympic Games.

ATHLETICS The Olympic forecasts are particularly difficult for track and field athletes: firstly because some top South Tyrolean athletes are currently injured and secondly because in this sport only the world rankings from the end of June 2020 or the limits achieved up to that point count. As of today, people are most likely to be experienced at discus throwing Hannes Kirchler from Meran, the Puster hurdlers Valentina Cavalleri and Caren Agreiter and the 400 meter runner Petra Nardelli from Eggen mini-chances at the Olympics. CYCLING/MOUNTAIN BIKE There are currently completely different assessments of the Olympic chances of South Tyrol's best mountain bikers for years. While Gerhard Kerschbaumer The woman from Eppan has to almost certainly have her ticket to the Olympics after her recent second place in the World Cup Eve Lechner seriously worried about it. After years of dominance, she had to bow to the up-and-coming Marina Berta at the Italian Championships last weekend. Internationally, she has also been struggling to keep up with the top field for the past two or three years. The World Cup at the end of August/beginning of September will be very important.

Gerhard Kerschbaumer is one of South Tyrol's Olympic medal hopes. © Michele Mondini

CYCLING/ROAD BIKE The 20-year-old from Bolzano Elena Pirrone made headlines in 2017 with two junior world championship titles. The time trial and the road race could also be an issue for them at the Olympics, the track races a little less so. An important signpost will be the U2 European Championships in Alkmaar (Netherlands) at the beginning of August. The World Championship road race in England follows in September. However, only the first competitions in 23 will probably be decisive here. SHOOT The woman from Eppan Petra Zublasing This year has not yet reached the top level of previous years and, unlike before Rio 2016, has not yet secured the Olympic ticket. But there are still several options, not least because the Eppan sports shooter has two disciplines as opportunities: the three-position fight and the 10 m air rifle shooting. The next dates are the World Cup in Rio at the end of August and the European Championships in Bologna in mid-September, where two Olympic starting places will be awarded for each discipline. TO SWIM This Friday, July 26th, there is a particularly important race for the Bolzano native at the World Swimming Championships in Gwangju Stefano Ballo : Should he make it into the top 4 relay teams in the world with Italy's 200x12 meter freestyle relay team, the Azzurri's Olympic ticket would be in the clear. Whether Stefano Ballo will also be there depends on his performance in 2020. If the Azzurri miss the top 12, there would still be a chance to grab one of the four remaining places in spring 2020. The woman from Brixen Laura Letrari Although he had to miss the 2019 World Cup, thanks to good performances he wants to try again by the June 29, 2020 deadline, especially for the freestyle relays.

Swimming talent Stefano Ballo.

SPORT CLIMBING South Tyroleans could also be there at the Olympic debut of this sport. The woman from Brixen Andrea Ebner, the people of Gardena Michael Piccolruz and Filip Schenk and Stephen Scarperi from St. Pauls are among the best sport climbers in Italy. An important stage towards the Olympics is the 2019 World Championships, which will take place in Tokyo in mid-August like the next Summer Games. TENNIS South Tyrol's tennis scene is currently in an extraordinary situation: On the one hand, it counts Andreas Seppi one of the best over-34s in the world and on the other hand Jannik Sinner the best U18 player. Seppi certainly has a chance of being at the start in Tokyo, but he would have to make a bit of progress: the best 56 athletes from the adjusted world rankings from June 8, 2020 will take part in the Olympics; In this case, adjusted means that there can be a maximum of 4 athletes per country. Seppi is currently number 76 and has 14 surplus players ahead of him. So there are not many steps missing, but one of them is particularly important: Seppi is currently only 5th Azzurro and would therefore have to overtake someone else within May. The Olympics probably come too early for Sinner.

TABLE TENNIS Participation in the Olympics is very difficult, but not impossible, for the three table tennis players from Bolzano Deborah Vivarelli , Giorgia Piccolin and Jordi Piccolin . All three are among the best in Italy, but have to prove their skills in their own Olympic qualifying tournaments and the world rankings from January 3, 1 are also an important yardstick. TRIATHLON The woman from Brixen has good cards at the moment Verena Steinhauser : The top 26 of the corresponding Olympic qualification rankings qualify for the individual competition (in addition to special continental representatives). Steinhauser is currently number 21 and also the best Azzurra. This is important because Italy, at least at the moment, is only entitled to one starting place in the individual competition. It will be much more difficult for the Innich native Matthias Steinwander : He is currently 169th in the ranking and “only” 6th Azzurro. There are also mini chances for Italy's mixed relay team, but they still need a few good results in order to get one of the 31 starting places on the deadline of March 2020, 10. VOLLEYBALL The same applies here as with basketball: First, the qualification of Italy's team must be determined, and then the South Tyrolean must be named to the Olympic squad. That the Bolzano Simone Giannelli would be a permanent member of the team, is considered safe. At an Olympic qualification tournament from August 9th to 11th there are 6 starting places at stake, 2 more will be played in January 2020. The situation is very similar for women: 6 places will be played between August 1st and 4th and another 2 in January. The Missian Raphaela foil is definitely one of the contenders for a place in the squad.

JUMPING WATER The most beautiful fairy tale would be if the two mommies... Tania Cagnotto and Francesca Dallapé are likely to go to the Olympics again after a maternity break and comeback after their silver medal in 2016 in Rio in synchronized jumping from the 3-meter board. To do this, they would first have to defeat internal competition, namely the European champions Elena Bertacchi/Chiara Pellacani. From December 2019 there will be an internal qualification for the Olympic dress rehearsal in April 2020, which will determine 4 starting places at the Olympics. Bolzano also has this dress rehearsal in Tokyo Maicol Verzotto in order to perhaps secure that Olympic ticket, especially in synchronized jumping, which he missed at the recent World Championships in Gwangju. Record 10 South Tyrolean Olympic starters It will be interesting to see how many South Tyrolean athletes will be able to look forward to starting the Olympics in the “Land of Smiles”. The largest South Tyrolean delegation to date at the Summer Olympics took place in Beijing in 2008, when 10 South Tyroleans took part. The fact that this time the venue is in Asia again can be a good omen. Like the fact that the last Olympic gold medal for a South Tyrolean was in 2008, namely the walker Alex Schwazer.

However, Rio 2016 was also something special because never before had South Tyrolean athletes won three medals at the Summer Olympics: In Brazil, Tania Cagnotto won silver in synchronized diving as well as bronze in the individual 3-meter board, while Simone Giannelli won silver with Italy's volleyball players.

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1 year before the Olympics in Tokyo – which South Tyroleans can dream?

On July 24, 2020 - exactly one year from now - the Summer Olympics will open in the Japanese capital Tokyo. And some athletes from South Tyrol will probably be there again at the celebration in the Olympic Stadium. SportNews takes a look at who that could be and explains the qualification criteria.

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