“Paris here we come”. This could be the slogan, or better yet the battle cry, of the athletes from Vicenza who will defend our colors at the 33rd edition of the Summer Olympics in the French capital, scheduled from 26 July to 11 August. Numerous disciplines will concern us closely, from athletics to swimming, from golf to river canoeing, just to mention the main ones, confirming that Berico sport continues to represent a point of reference on the national scene.
The only one who, at least on paper, seems capable of aiming for the Olympic podium is the swimmer |Thomas Ceccon|, born in Thiene and raised in the Creazzo swimming pool, who in the previous Tokyo 2020 Games, postponed to summer 2021 due to the health pandemic, returned home with two relay medals, silver in the 4×100 freestyle and bronze in the 4×100 medley. Ceccon, who is regaining the great condition that emerged during the “Settecolli” in Rome, will compete in some single races and the main relays, including the mixed one. In the 100 backstroke, where he is the reigning world champion after his success in Budapest 2022, he is among the favorites to win the gold medal, which has been missing from the Berico sport showcase for 32 years: the last Olympic title bears the signature of Pierpaolo Ferrazzi, who triumphed in river canoeing in Barcelona 1992, and then won bronze in Sydney 2000. He also aspires to a place in the relay |Paolo Conte Bonin|, who returned in the same world championship with bronze in the 4×200.
With the plane ticket already safely in his pocket for Paris there is the golfer |Guido Migliozzi| who in mid-June received confirmation of his participation from the international federation based on the ranking, together with the other big Italian, Matteo Manassero: last weekend the Vicenza native triumphed at the Dutch Open, taking home a check 425 thousand dollars. In the canoe slalom, with access to the final of the 2023 world championships and then the bronze medal, the place was won by the Valstagnese |Paolo Ceccon|, but as there is only one place per nation it will be necessary to deal with internal competition. In the national men’s volleyball team, qualified based on the ranking, there should be spiker |Mattia Bottolo|, who played in the Nation League last weekend. The competition in road cycling is notable: given the small contingent allocated for each country (4 women and 3 men) it will not be easy to be called up: at the men’s level they dream |Filippo Zana| and |Samuele Battistella|, at the female level |Sofia Bertizzolo|, recovering after the bad accident that occurred in mid-May at the Vuelta Burgos.
Athletics, the queen of sport, deserves a separate discussion, on stage from August 1st until the last day of the five-circle event, which will have the honor of closing the women’s marathon from 8 in the morning. On paper, more than a few athletes have already achieved the pass, while others could return through the world ranking lists, calculated on the average of the results obtained in the last year, but the efficiency on a physical level must also be confirmed. For some of them the last chance to obtain the Olympic card will come on the current Saturday and Sunday in La Spezia, which is hosting the absolute Italian championships for the first time. The marathon runner | has already achieved the Olympic minimumEyob Faniel| (who with 2h07’09” boasts the second Italian all-time performance, obtained at the beginning of the year in Seville), the middle distance runner |Elena Bellò| in the 800 (in May he clocked 1’58″83, the third time ever in Italy) and the hurdler in the lap of the track |Rebecca Sartori|, who could compete for the position with another Vicenza native, |Alice Muraro|, who ran 54.73 at the European Championships in Rome, very close to the standard limit. Also |Federica Del Buono|, fourth in Rome in the 10,000, seems to have deserved the Olympic trip while this weekend the high jumper will have to prove that she deserves the trip to Paris |Elena Vallortigara|, bronze at the 2022 world championships, and the triple player |Ottavia Cestonaro|, last week returned to jumping close to 14 meters after the operation last February.
Luca Pozza
