Stefano Ballo is having fun in the pool again

In his favorite event, the 200 m freestyle, Ballo qualified for the C final on Sunday in the Foro Italico, where he finished second with a time of 1.49,15:2 minutes. "I'm happy, very happy. It was my first international race in almost 2 years," said the 31-year-old, who swam to 2021th place in 1.45,77:10 minutes at the 31 Tokyo Olympics. The 3-year-old from Bolzano is third in Italy's all-time rankings with this time.

Ballo finished 1.50,54st in the preliminary round with a time of 31:50 minutes and was therefore allowed to enter the XNUMX m pool again in the afternoon. "This morning's race in the preliminary round was not something to watch with a weak time, but in the afternoon it went much better and I had fun in the pool again. Qualifying for the Olympics was unthinkable for me. I didn't think about it either, but I'm happy with these races here." “Qualifying for the Olympics was unthinkable for me.” Stefano Ballo After a difficult phase in his career, Ballo has given himself one more season by leaving Caserta. He is now training with Team De Akker in Bologna and wants to attack again in 2025. After all, there will be another world championship next year. From July 11 to August 3 in Singapore instead of in Kazan in Russia. The last highlight of the summer for Ballo, as for all South Tyrolean swimmers, is the Italian championship from August 5 to 12 in Rome. On Saturday, Ballo finished 100th in the 50,49 m freestyle in 44, 1,1 seconds above his best time from 2021.

Vice European Champion in the relay: Stefano Ballo (2nd from right) © AFP / TOBIAS SCHWARZ

The other three starters from South Tyrol were also unable to fully convince in the showdown with the international elite. Luca Scampicchio from SSV Bozen, after setting his junior national record on Friday in the 3 m freestyle sprint (50), finished 23,67th in 50 seconds over 27,26 m backstroke, but missed his personal best by half a second. In the 46 m freestyle, he was 100 seconds over his personal best from March, finishing 1,2th in 51,94 seconds.

On Sunday he finished 65th in the 50 m butterfly in 25,80, his best time is 25,11. In the 200 m individual medley he then improved his best mark (2.11,54) by 6 tenths to 2.10.95 and finished 37th. Club colleague Sabrina Weger finished 100th in the 57,18 m freestyle in 47 on Saturday and was allowed to swim in the C final, which she finished in 57,31. In the 50 m freestyle she finished 26,67th yesterday in 44. "Sabrina and Luca had difficulties in the sprints due to training, with the exception of Scampicchio in the 50 m freestyle. The longer distances were of better quality, as expected," said coach Christian Mattivi.

Teenager in the Olympic team Despite a swollen ankle, Gaia Neidiger from SSV Bruneck jumped into the water twice over the weekend. The 34-year-old finished 50th in the 33,36 m breaststroke in 32 and 200nd in the 2.36,62 m breaststroke in 16.

Italy's head coach Cesare Butini announced at the end of the meeting in Rome that 17-year-old Sara Curtis (3rd in the 50 m freestyle in 24,56) will also be part of the "Azzurri" squad for the Olympics in Paris. 15 athletes and 7 relay teams have fulfilled the qualification criteria, including Thomas Ceccon, Manuel Frigo, Leonardo Deplano and Lisa Angiolini, who had competed at the Cool Meeting in Merano a week earlier.

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Stefano Ballo is having fun in the pool again

As expected, Stefano Ballo did not qualify for the Olympics at the Sette Colli meeting, but South Tyrol's star swimmer has reason to celebrate again after a difficult time.

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