There will be no Italian swimmers in the pool at the European Championship in Belgrade. Among the champions present, the most high-sounding names are those of Milak or Popovici, there will be no Italian athletes and this is an absolute first time but Italy has the event at home and it is the Settecolli Trophy which takes place in Rome from Friday to Sunday.
The decision to place the European swimming championships in the same period as Trofeo Settecolli, the oldest swimming meeting in the world organized by FIN, which this year celebrates its 60th anniversary, he aroused disappointment in the Italian Federation, which inevitably chose not to send the swimming team to the pool in Belgrade.
The technical reasons behind this choice are solid and understandable. The FIN has long established that the Settecolli will be the last qualifying event for the Paris Olympics. Consequently, athletes who have not yet reached the time limit will only be able to attempt qualification in Rome, from 21 to 23 June. If the team had been sent to the European Championships, many Italian athletes who had the potential to stand out in Belgrade they would not have been able to participate, since the technical staff had already decided not to send the athletes already qualified for the Olympics so as not to compromise their preparation for the most important event of the season.
It was thought of send a youth team but in three weeks there are the European Junior Championships where Italy could collect titles and it made no sense to undermine the preparation of such an important event to send the youngest players to competitions where they would have struggled to secure a place in the final.
However, Italy deployed its best forces in open water swimming competitions and sent competitive teams for diving and artistic swimming. However, there remains regret for the second-tier athletes who could have played a leading role or even won medals in Belgrade. Their absence not only deprives them of an opportunity to emerge internationally, but also of the possibility of earning the prize money reserved for medalists. LEN explained that there was no other way to organize the European Championships this season and therefore had to submit to the requests of the Serbian Federation which took on the organization, however making this period the only one available.
