Mediterranean games, swimming and fencing shine in gold!

by our correspondent Chiara Soldi

July 5th
– Milan

Les jeux sont faits! Italy is queen of the Mediterranean. On the penultimate day of competitions in Oran (tomorrow the Handball final does not include Italians in the race), the Azzurri won 11 medals, 4 of which gold, enough to arithmetically win the medal table of the 3-circle review with one day in advance. And not only that, the total even exceeds that of the last edition of Tarragona 2018 (156): in Algeria, Italy dominates with 159 medals of which 48 gold, 50 silver and 61 bronzes. Turkey has been paved, which for days had parked in first place: an infinite question and answer, which ends today with the great blue exploit. Italy has dominated the Mare Nostrum since 2005: fifth consecutive time and 14 successes in 19 editions. And in four years, in Taranto 2026, we will play at home … Here is the summary of today’s medals.

I SWIM

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The blue swimming closes the adventure in Oran in the best possible way with the 9 seals won today. To open the last evening of the finals Matteo Rivolta thought that he had no rivals in the 100 butterfly: with 51 ”66 he put the gold around his neck, also taking home the new record of the event. On the podium with him also Edoardo Valsecchi bronze with 52 ”53. The second gold is the work of Filippo Megli in the 200sl, after the victories in the 100sl and in the 4x100l relay, he finished the race in 1’47 “33. But it is Lorenzo Mora’s double in the 200 backstroke, gold in 1’57 “62, and Matteo Restivo, silver in 1’57” 77, to bring Italy to 158 medals, thus surpassing the medal table of the last edition of Tarragona. Silver for Carlotta Zofkova who in the back 100 finishes in 1’01 ”61. Bronze, on the other hand, for Antonietta Cesarano: in the 400sl she finished third in 4’10 “13 behind the Slovenian Fain (4’09′07), silver, and the Turkish Ertan (4’08′04), gold. To win the last blue medal is the women’s 4×100, made up of Sonia Laquintana, Alice Mizzau, Sofia Morini and Viola Scotto Di Carlo, who gets the bronze in 3’42 ”86 behind Slovenia and France.

FENCING

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Finally, the hymn of Mameli also resounds at the Mohammed Ben Ahmed Hall in Oran. The first gold of fencing in the 3-circle review comes from Olga Rachele Calissi in foil. After a clear path that saw her overcome first the Spanish Marino 14-13 and then the Turkish Karamete 15-9, she dominated the French Morgane Patru 15-7 in the final. It is precisely with the success of the 30-year-old from Livorno that Italy arithmetically conquers the first place in the medal table. The second medal of the day in foil is by Davide Filippi: the blue was defeated in the semifinal by the Serbian Veljko Cuk for 15-10 and therefore won the bronze.