Italian swimming champion Federica Pellegrini has made it into the final of the women's 200 m freestyle at the Rio De Janeiro Olympics on Tuesday.
Twenty-eight-year-old Pellegrini made the cut with the third-best time in the semifinals of 1'55''42, behind Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden and Katie Ledecky of the United States.
"It will be one of the fastest finals in the history of this race and I am happy to be competing," said Pellegrini, who is already an Olympic gold medallist and world record-holder in the women's 200m freestyle.
She declined to say if she thought would make the podium at Rio, but predicted that Sjostrom or Ledecky would collect the gold medal.
"First place will go to one of the two of them," said Pellegrini, who became Italy's first female Olympic swimming champion when she won a gold medal in the women's 200m freestyle in Beijing in 2008.
Other finalists in Wednesday's race are China's Shen Do, Australia's Bronte Barratt and Emma McKeon, France's Charlotte Bonnet and Sweden's Michelle Coleman.
On Monday, Niccolo Campriani won the Olympic 10-meter air rifle competition, bringing the Italian team's haul of medals in the first two days of the Games to seven including three golds: an impressive start that put it fourth in the medals table.
