The weather forecast spoke clearly and also in this case they turned out to be correct. In Limassol, the Cypriot city where the three days of the Comen Cup for nations ended yesterday, there was talk of a shower of medals for Italy and Puglia and so it was. Alessio Mustaccioli of Sport 2000 of Lucera, Simone Ciuffreda of Pentotary Foggia and Gabriele Garzia of the Apulian Swimmers of Lecce made their voices heard in the lanes from the Mediterranean island. With their performances, they raised the tricolor to the highest point of the flagpole eight times to make the notes of the Mameli anthem resonate.
The results
Garzia first packed and packed half of the loot. Meanwhile, he dominated the breaststroke over both the 100 and 200 meter distances. In the first case he defeated the competition in 1’02″94, in the second in 2’17″05. Two fantastic golds for a continually improving athlete. Garzia also reached the top step of the podium in the 4×50 mixed, which Italy finished in 1’48”83. Traveling companions on this adventure were: Martina Benis (Aquaclub), Francesco Ceolin (Team Veneto) and Carlotta Giannini (Imolanuoto). The fourth and final success in the 4×100 medley in 03’45”92 together with Cesare Gagiola, Ciuffreda and Francesco Ceolin. Ciuffreda won three golds. The Foggia native is gold medalist in the 100 butterfly, covered in 55.30. In the same race, Italy also won bronze with Lorenzo Salvati (Aquila Nuoto), who touched the plate in 55.71. Almost the same thing in the 200 meters: in this case the butterfly athlete won in 2’04”19, preceding Salvati by 41 hundredths. Finally, gold also in the 4×100 mixed. One, but precious, is the gold that Mustaccioli got his hands on in the team competition in the 4×50 meters freestyle with a time of 1’38”93. Italy has put Spain and Türkiye behind. The athlete from Lucerne closed his stage in 22’84, while Francesco Ceolin (Team Veneto) needed three hundredths more. To complete the excellent performances of Carlotta Giannini (Imolanuoto) in 26″62 and Bianca Sbaragli (RN Florentia) in 26″60.
Regret
It’s a shame for fourth place in the 50 meter freestyle with a time of 23″34: ahead of him were the Spaniard Hoek Le Guenedal (without competition in 22″77), the Turkish Ozdemir (23″22) and the Israeli Paht (23″ 29). Overall, almost 300 swimmers from 20 nations participated in the youth event. Turkey showed up with 39 athletes, then Italy and France with 32.
