Since 1997 the indoor swimming season in Italy starts in Bolzano. In 2020 - the year of

the pandemic - Swimmeeting South Tyrol was also organized: at a regional level only,

instead at the begin of November with a month of delay in December and not as usual

with the participation of champions from all over the world.. "Last year, during this

period, South Tyrol was declared a red zone and it was not possible to organize an

international meeting, but we managed to organize the event in mid-December for the

home athletes in order not to interrupt our streak.” Says Christian Mattivi, president of

the organizing committee since the first edition 24 years ago.

This year the meeting will take place on the weekend of the 13th and 14th November,

once again in Bolzano. The 25th edition is a jubilee and a sort of restart. It was not easy to

find a perfect date between the European Shortcourse Championship, that will take

place in Kazan in Russia from the 2nd to the 7th November and the International

Swimming League which will stop on 13th and 14th November in Eindhoven with the

play-off semifinals. Stefano Ballo with his Aqua Centurions team will also be involved in

the Netherlands. “For this reason the favourite of the Bolzano public, tenth over 200m

freestyle at the Tokyo games, obviously will not be able to go into the water at his

homemeeting and we are very sorry”, says Mattivi.

Neither this year the usual meeting with the stands packed and the boys cheering for the

poolside champions will be seen, but the OC wants to try to get back to a certain

normality. Mattivi: "We will not have an external audience in the stands, because the

capacity in Bolzano is limited and we calculate with about 350 participants when in the

golden days we had 800 competitors at the start. Obviously, entry is authorized only

with the Green Pass, and in the facility there will be the obligation to wear a mask. It will

all be a little different, but there will be top athletes from abroad. "

The big name in 2021 so far is certainly that of the Swiss Noè Ponti, surprise winner of

the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games over 100 butterfly in 50.74 behind

Caleeb Dressel (49.45) and Kristof Milak (49.68). Ponti earned the European junior

champion title in 2019 in Kazan over 50 butterfly and after a brief experience in North

Carolina in the United States in the summer he returned to train in Switzerland. His big

goal for next season is the long-course European Championship in August at the Foro

Italico in Rome.

In Bolzano Ponti will try to swim a new record in the 100 butterfly event. Mario

Todorovic's 50.80 fromm Croatia has stood since 2009 and is the longest-running record ever in Bolzano. Breaking the record would mean cashing in on 1000 euros. The total

prize money of the Bolzano meeting is almost 20,000 euros (exactly 19,880 euros). But

it will not be easy for Ponti as he will be challenged by Hungarian Maxim Lobanovszkij,

European silver over 50 freestyle in short course in Glasgow in 2019.

From Switzerland there will also be Alexandra Touretski, who competed in the 2016

Olympic Games in Rio. She is the daughter of legendary coach Gennadi Touretski, who

passed away in 2020 at the age of 71, and will be remembered as the one that coached

champions like Alexander Popov and Michael Klim, to name just two of the most

notorious.

The proven format of the event does not change. As always, the best three heats (the top

24 of each race) will be in the water in compact form. The key competitions will take

place on Saturday from 3 to 5 pm and Sunday from 1 to 3 pm. The concept of the most

important indoor swimming event in the Alps does not change either. As for many years,

Swimmeeting South Tyrol is also a Green Event, an event planned, organized and

implemented according to ecological criteria. The meeting will also be the first test of

the new season for all local and regional athletes.