Italy on Thursday qualified for the men’s 4 x 100 relay final at the Paris Olympics thanks to a repechage.
In the first semifinal heat, Matteo Melluzzo, Marcell Jacobs, Fausto Desalu and Filippo Tortu closed in fifth position in 38’.07 seconds.
Only the first three qualified directly for the final, in addition to the two teams with the best time of the two semifinal heats.
Fortunately for the Azzurri, the second semifinal was slower, meaning Italy was back to defend their men’s 4x100m title in the finals.
In addition to Italy, the US, Great Britain, South Africa, China, France, Canada and Japan will compete in the final race scheduled on Friday.
Meanwhile in sailing, Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti on Thursday won Italy’s tenth Olympic gold medal in the Mixed Multihull (Nacra 17) in Marseille.
The duo also clinched gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Also on Thursday, Ginevra Taddeucci won a bronze medal in the women’s 10 km marathon swimming event.
The Italian swimmer finished third behind Sharon van Rouwendaal of the Netherlands who won gold and Australian Moesha Johnson who took silver.
The race took place on the Seine after a controversy over the past few days regarding water pollution levels of the river that passes through the French capital and the cancellation of the first training session.
Italy also won a silver medal in the men’s canoe double 500-metre race as Gabriele Casadei and Carlo Tacchini closed the race behind China and ahead of Spain.
In some Olympic drama, Italy’s appeal against the men’s water polo team’s loss to Hungary was rejected on Thursday.
The previous day, the Settebello team was defeated 12-10 in a penalty shootout in the quarterfinals.
Italy however vigorously protested, appealing over a “technical mistake”.
The decision to reject the appeal was formalised by World Aquatics.
ANSA
