Noè Ponti Twice Goes 50.4 In 100 Fly At Sette Colli; Wins For Kornev, Evans & Quadarella
Noè Ponti twice went 50.4 in the 100 fly on the first day of the Sette Colli meeting in Rome.
Ponti served notice in prelims when he soared to 50.40, splitting 23.64/26.76 as he took a chunk from Kristof Milak’s meet record of 50.89 in 2021.
It was the fourth-fastest performance this year bettered only by Maxime Grousset’s 50.11 French record, Ponti’s 50.27 from the Swiss Championships in April and Ilya Kharun’s 50.37.
Noè Ponti: Photo Courtesy: Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
The Swiss returned for the final where he went out 0.24 faster and returned 0.26 slower to clock 50.42 to match the time set by Kharun at the TYR Pro Swim Series in Fort Lauderdale.
Federico Burdisso (51.55) and Andrei Minakov (51.61) joined Ponti on the podium.
Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Ponti now owns three of the top five times in the world this year, weeks before he travels to Singapore with a world long-course medal missing from his armoury.
Milak won’t be in Singapore having announced his withdrawal last week due to health issues and a lack of “internal fire.”
The Olympic champion last competed at a World Championships at Budapest 2022 where he won double gold in front of a vocal home crowd. The reigning world champion is Diogo Ribeiro who posted 51.73 for silver at the European U23 Championships in Samorin.
Kornev Goes 21.5 In 50 Free; Morgan Withdraws From Meet
Egor Kornev fired off a 21.58 victory in the 50 free to hold two of the top five times this year following his 21.43 in April. Andrej Barna beat out Leonardo Deplano by 0.01 in 21.88 to 21.89 with Olympic silver medallist Ben Proud locked out of the top three in 21.98.
Marco De Tullio went past leader Lucas Henveaux to lead at the halfway point of the 400 free. The Italian was never threatened and won in 3:44.89 with Florian Wellbrock next home in 3:47.50 and Davide Marchello third in 3:48.11.
Miron Lifintsev and Thomas Ceccon went stroke for stroke in the 100 back. Lifintsev, competing as a neutral athlete, was 0.02 ahead at the turn and pulled a little more away from the Olympic champion to win in 53.23 to 53.31 with world bronze medallist Apostolos Christou next home in 53.47.
However, Ollie Morgan – British record-holder and no 2 in the rankings – didn’t c0mpete and said on social media that he was pulling out of the meet for personal reasons. He will though be at worlds, saying: “Wishing the team success. See you all in Singapore, we’ll be there.”
Ludovico Viberti led throughout to win the men’s 100m breaststroke in 59.06. Ivan Kozhakin was eighth at halfway, almost a second behind the leader, before a 30.86 second 50 propelled him past a field that included the Olympic champion Nicolo Martinenghi and into second in 59.14. Martinenghi was third in 59.37.
Köhler Breaks German 50 Fly Record
Angelina Köhler won the women’s 50 fly in a German record time of 25.55 ahead of Anna Ntountounaki who edged out Silvia di Pietro by the narrowest of margins in 25.97 to 25.98
Angharad Evans has enjoyed a fine 2025 so far and sits atop the 100m breaststroke rankings with a British record of 1:05.37.
Simona Quadarella: Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
However, it was Olympic bronze medallist Mona McSharry who narrowly led at halfway before the Briton came back on the second 50 for victory in 1:06.33 to 1:06.86. The pair were the only women inside 1:07 with Hungary’s Henrietta Fangli third in 1:07.25.
Simona Quadarella enjoyed a fine tussle with Isabel Gose in the fastest heat of the 1500. The Italian was narrowly ahead for much of the race but it wasn’t until the final 250m that she managed to pull away to win in 15:54.23 to 15:57.83. Barbara Pozzobon was third fastest after topping the slower heat in 16:34.22.
Freya Colbert and Abbie Wood enjoyed a British 1-2 in the 200 free. Colbert took the title in 1:57.32 ahead of her teammate who clocked 1:58.21 as Bianca Nannucci came from fifth at the final turn to move into third in 1:58.35.
Federica Toma was the only woman to break through 28secs in the 50 back in 27.97.