Italian Athletes Shine: Vote, Borsino, and Best of the Week

VOTE, BORSINO AND BEST OF THE WEEK IN ITALY

Vote of the week for Italy: 6,5

Stock market of the week (who goes up and who goes down)

↓ National women’s rugby team ↑ A. Tavano (judo)
↓ S. Raffaeli (rhythmic) ↑ Scuderia Ferrari (F1)

Athlete of the Week (Male). Domenico Acerenza (distance swimming): the twenty-nine year old from Potenza resumes the new season of the World Cup circuit where he left off the last one: with a triumph, this time in the waters of Soma Bay (Egypt). After obtaining the pass for Paris 2024 at the world championships in Doha last February, here is this fantastic victory in the first 10km of the season. Among other things, accompanied by two other Italians on the podium (Gregorio Paltrinieri second and Dario Verani third). Frenchman Marc Antoine Olivier (vice-world champion in Doha) was mocked after leading the race from the start. This is a first warning to the various Rasovszky, Wellbrock and Olivier: for the Five Circles race everyone will have to deal with him and SuperGreg.

Athlete of the Week (Female). Giulia Rizzi (fencing): fantastic double achieved in the épée World Cup stage, held in Nanjing (China). After the victory in the individual competition on Saturday, defeating the Korean Sera Song (15-8) in the final, they then reached the first step of the podium in the team event, defeating the Chinese hosts 43-34 in the final. Unstoppable pace, therefore, for Giulia and the girls of technical commissioner Dario Chiadò (without forgetting Alberta Santuccio’s bronze in the individual). All things considered, I would say that this weapon (for both men and women) could be the tip of the balance to help us move further up the Olympic medal table, without leaving all the responsibility on the shoulders of the foil.

ITALY’S MEDAL HOPES AT THE PARIS 2024 OLYMPIC GAMES

Dear readers, the roundup of disciplines that will represent us in Paris 2024 continues. Today we will analyze fencing, surfing and triathlon.

FENCING

En plein Olympic cards for the Italian battleship, which with the team pass won the day before yesterday (via world ranking) by the men’s saber, will present itself in the Transalpine capital with all six of its representatives (only France and USA like us) . Let’s not hide, fencing has always been our mine at the Five Circles, in terms of heavy metals, and it will have to be the same in Paris if we want to attempt to climb the record of podiums (40) and gold medals (14) in a single edition of the Games. Also to cancel the “zero gold” box for Tokyo 2020, which was a bit out of tune with the extraordinary performance of the Italian delegation. Furthermore, the absence of the Russian teams should favor us further. Obviously, as always, foil will be our flagship weapon: we are the world reference point for the specialty. But the épée will also have great ambitions on French soil, and especially in team competitions we are inferior to no one. As for the sabre, on paper we are not among the favourites, but on a good day anything can happen. Let’s remember that by winning a match in team competitions, we could automatically already be in the podium area. In conclusion, 2 gold would be the minimum wage, with 3 gold metals we could be satisfied, while from 4 gold onwards it would become a triumphal expedition.

Vote for the Italian Fencing Federation in the three-year Olympic period: 9
Chance of podium in Paris 2024: 5-8

SURF

In the last ISA (International Surfing Association) World Championship, held a few weeks ago in Puerto Rico, the last available places for Paris 2024 were assigned. Unfortunately, the national surfing team (Edoardo Papa, Matteo Calatri, Giada Legati, Emily Gussoni and Daniela Boldini) was unable to obtain further passes to Five Circles, and therefore in the splendid location of Teahupo’o (on the island of Tahiti, in French Polynesia) we will be represented solely by Leonardo Fioravanti, thirteenth among the Puerto Rican waves of the Atlantic . However, this placement of the Roman represents excellent news because it will translate into a better positioning of the Olympic scoreboard. Honestly, it will be very difficult for Fioravanti to get on the podium, although a lot will depend on the luck of catching the right wave at the right time. For the women’s sector, however, there will still be a lot of work to do in view of Los Angeles 2028, to try to enter the top 16 in the ranking and deserve the Californian Games.

Vote for the Italian Surfing/Water Skiing/Wakeboard Federation (surfing section) in the three-year Olympic period: 6
Chance of podium in Paris 2024: 0

TRIATHLON

From my point of view, it is one of the five sports federations that has worked best in this three-year period preceding the Paris Games. The best proof of this statement is the historic qualification of the mixed relay (achieved through the Olympic ranking, definitively closed on 8 March 2024), which automatically brought 2 female and 2 male cards – obviously with the possibility of fielding them also for individual competitions -. Having finished ahead of historical powers of the discipline such as Norway, Switzerland, Spain, Hungary or Canada, says a lot about the improvements made in recent years. And that’s not all: there are still possibilities (through the individual ranking) of bringing a third woman to the Games, while among the men it will be a little more complicated to qualify a third athlete. The culmination of this exponential growth should materialize in Los Angeles 2028, but I don’t rule out twists already in Paris. While we wait for the final squad (the passes are up to the nation), we could be among the outsiders for a podium that would be historic for this discipline.

Vote for the Italian Triathlon Federation in the three-year Olympic period: 8,5
Chance of podium in Paris 2024: 0-1

Maurizio Contino

PREVIOUS EPISODES OF ‘MAURIZIO TELLS…’

2024-03-26 10:42:34
#hopes #triathlon #surfing #fencing #Paris