Exactly one month before the 27th edition on 4th and 5th November, the Swimmeeting South Tyrol was presented today at the clubhouse of SSV Bozen in Bolzano.

For 26 years on the first weekend in November, SSV Bozen has been organising the first important short course meet of the season in Italy. It will be the same this year, with one

highlight following the next. Of course all eyes are looking forward to the Summer Olympics in Paris (27 July to 4 August 2024), but there are numerous other highlights on

the international calendar. Just three weeks after the South Tyrol Swim Meet, the Italian Long Course Championships will take place, followed a week later by the European Short

Course Championships in Otopeni, Romania (5th to 10th December). Then, from the 11th to 18th February 2024 the World Long Track Championships in Doha in Qatar is on the

programme and in the tightly packed calendar the European Long Track Championships must also fit in, for which there is no date yet.

Bolzano has made a name for itself all over the world over many years. The swim meet in the much too small and narrow hall is unique and many world-class athletes

have shown great performances in the incomparable atmosphere. Bolzano has hosted Olympic champions, World champions and European champions. In the past two years,

the Swiss Noè Ponti was the big star with a total of seven victories, last year alone he won five times. The 22-year-old from Locarno who was Olympic Bronze in Tokyo in the 100 m

dolphin race, took silver in the 50 m dolphin and bronze in the 200 m dolphin at the short course World Championships in Australia last year. Only at this summer's World

Championships in Fukuoka things did not go quite as planned. His best result there was 7th place in the 100 m dolphin.

"But Ponti will not have an easy time repeating his five victories from last year," says meet director Christian Mattivi. Because Simone Stefanì from Italy already

beat Ponti in Bolzano in 2021 over 100 m dolphin. The backstroke specialist from Apulia won gold in the 50m and 100m backstroke at the Universiade this year in Chengdu, China.

He also triumphed in the backstroke distances at the 2022 Mediterranean Games in Algeria.

The 30-year-old Elena Di Liddo has been one of Italy's top athletes in the 50m and 100m dolphin for more than a decade. She has won eleven European Championship

medals (five on the long course, six in the 25 m pool) in her career. After a shoulder operation, she is trying to reach to her old successes.

In addition to Ponti, the organisers of the Swimeeting South Tyrol were able to present further renowned participants from abroad today. Stars from overseas have

always loved to come to Bolzano. Olympic champion Natalie Coughlin has triumphed eleven times in Bolzano. With Rachel Bernhardt, a strong US breaststroker, who can hope

to take part in the World Championships next year in Doha is coming to town. With her time of 1:07.38 minutes, the 28-year-old is actually in fifth place in the US annual rankings

in the 100 m breaststroke.

A well-known swimmer from France has also confirmed her start in Bolzano.

Charlotte Bonnet already won Olympic bronze in the relay in London in 2012. She has won relay bronze four times at World Championships and her biggest individual success

was European Championship gold on the long course in Glasgow in 2018. At European Championships, she has won 18 medals in total. Most recently, she has made headlines as

a breaststroker. In June, she set French records in the 50m and 100m breaststroke in the 50m pool at the national championships (30.82 and 1.07.54 respectively), and she holds

seven French records in total.

Thom De Boer from the Netherlands is a freestyle sprinter who took bronze twice with the Dutch relay team at the World Short Course Championships last December.

De Boer has already won a total of nine relay medals in his career at major international events.

"Last year, Noè Ponti was the only one to set two meeting records. This year it looks good that several event records will be broken," Mattivi is optimistic. "Ponti, Stefanì,

but also Bernhardt and Bonnet are definitely capable of setting new records," says OC boss Mattivi confidently. Only Ponti's meeting records from 2022 are "only" worth 250 euros

each. For all other records that are going to be broken, there is a prize money of 1000 euros waiting to be won, because all other Bolzano records are at least four years old. The

oldest record in Bolzano is held by former world record holder Nick Thoman from the USA. His mark of 50.32 seconds in the 100m backstroke has withstood all attacks since

2009. The meeting is endowed with a total prize money of 21,380 euros. There have been 169 meeting records to applaud in the last 25 years.

The competition programme remains unchanged compared to the last years. The fastest 3 series (top 24 of the entry list in each discipline) will be shown separately in

concentrated form so that the spectators can admire the stars of the event several times within a very short time. On Saturday between 4 pm and 6 pm and on Sunday between 1

pm and 3 pm.

The successful participant in Bolzano: Thomas Rupprath with 18 victories

The most successful participant in Bolzano was Thomas Rupprath from Germany, who competed in Bolzano six times and won 18 times between 2001 and 2008.

In 2001 and 2002 he managed five victories in one weekend. Noè Ponti equalled this record last year. Fabio Scozzoli, Italy's breaststroke champion, who ended his career in

the summer, appears in second place on the eternal list of winners. Scozzoli has 17 victories to his name in the valley town. He won the 100m breaststroke eight times each

between 2009 and 2018. Third on the podium is a swimmer from Germany. Janine Pietsch has celebrated 16 victories in Bolzano, six times standing at the top in the 50 m

backstroke. Behind her are the "bomber" Marco Orsi with 13 first places (six times 100 m freestyle), US champion Natalie Coughlin (11) and Steffen Deibler from Germany (9). The

three athletes with 8 victories also include a South Tyrolean Laura Letrari, now 34 years old from Bolzano Nuoto, who ended her career in the summer of 2022. She won the 100

m medley six times between 2009 and 2021