Swimming

Ceccon Clocks 52.99, Masse 59.64 In 100 Back To End Acropolis Open

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By Retta Race on SwimSwam

2024 ACROPOLIS OPEN

The final night of action at the 2024 Acropolis Open concluded tonight with Italian world record holder Thomas Ceccon taking on the men’s 100 backstroke.

23-year-old Ceccon produced a winning effort of 52.99 to snag the gold, turning in his best time of 2024 in the process.

After firing 52.27 at the Berlin stop of the 2023 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup, Ceccon clocked a solid 53.49 at the Italian Championships in March as lead-off on his squad’s medley relay.

This evening, Ceccon opened in 25.86 and closed in 27.13 to hold off Apostolos Christou of the host nation who secured silver in 53.35. Christou’s effort dipped under the Olympic Qualification Time of 53.74 needed for Paris 2024.

Ceccon’s Italia teammate Michele Lamberti rounded out the podium in 54.41.

In the women’s 100m back, it was 28-year-old Canadian Kylie Masse who posted the fastest result and sole sub-minute outing of the field.

Completing her sweep of the discipline at this competition Masse hit the wall in 59.64 (28.52/31.12) in a solid marker before next month’s Canadian Olympic Trials.

Behind her was Dutch ace Kira Toussaint who turned in 1:00.10 for silver while Italy’s Sara Curtis bagged bronze in 1:01.85.

Masse has been as fast as 58.93 at February’s Spanish Open to rank 6th in the world this season.

17-year-old Curtis was in the water earlier in the session, racing in the women’s 50m freestyle event.

Curtis cranked out a time of 24.66 to establish a new meet record, falling just .10 outside of the 24.56 Italian national record she put on the books at the Italian Championships in March.

Kristian Gkolomeev of the host nation was the swiftest competitor in the men’s 50m free, logging 22.20 ahead of fellow Greek swimmers Stergios-Marios Mpilas (22.42) and Odysseys Meladinis (22.49).

Teenager Efraim Ntoymas Eyaggelos put up a new Greek Age Record en route to winning the men’s 200m breast this evening.

16-year-old Eyaggelos scored a gold medal-worthy 2:12.49, splitting 29.94/34.20/34/14/34.211 in the process. For reference, his outing would render him the 5th-best boys’ 15-16-year-old performer in U.S. history.

Additional Winners

  • Georgia Damasioti claimed the top spot in the women’s 200 fly, putting up 2:10.43 to beat the field by over a second.
  • Spanish swimmer Arbidel Gonzalez Alvarez topped the men’s 200 fly podium in 1:58.64, narrowly ahead of Apostolos Siskos‘ silver medal-earning 1:58.99.
  • The women’s 200m breast saw Jessica Vall produce an outing of 2:26.12 as the gold medalist.
  • Belgium’s Valentine Dumont hit a time of 4:10.37 as tonight’s women’s 400m free winner. Of note, Olympic medalist Mireia Belmonte of Spain grabbed the gold in the B-Final in a time of 4:24.83.
  • Dimitrios Markos earned a new meet record of 3:50.28 as the men’s 400m free gold medalist

SwimSwam: Ceccon Clocks 52.99, Masse 59.64 In 100 Back To End Acropolis Open

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