2019–2020: World Championships silver medalist at 14 years of age
2019 European Junior Championships
On 3 July, at the 2019 European Junior Swimming Championships held in Kazan, Russia, Pilato won the gold medal in the 50 metre breaststroke with a Championships record time of 30.16 seconds, finishing over one full second ahead of silver medalist Kotryna Teterevkova of Lithuania and Anastasia Makarova of Russia.[1] Two days later, she won a silver medal in the 4×100 metre medley relay, contributing a split of 1:07.70 for the breaststroke leg of the relay to the final time of 4:05.66.[2] In the final of the 4×100 metre mixed medley relay the next day, she helped achieve a fifth-place finish in 3:55.49, splitting a 1:10.15 for the breaststroke leg of the relay.[3] For her fourth and final event, on 7 July, she placed fifth in the 100 metre breaststroke with a time of 1:08.22.[4]
On 27 July 2019, at the beginning of the senior national team, at the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea, she entered the final of the 50 breaststroke with the third best time (30.17), after setting the new Italian record and winning her heat in 29.98, beating her previous record set at the Settecolli Trophy (30.13).[8] The next day, she placed second in the final with a time of 30.00 seconds, finishing 0.16 seconds behind gold medalist Lilly King of the United States and 0.15 seconds ahead of bronze medalist Yuliya Yefimova of Russia.[7]
2019 World Junior Championships
The month following the senior World Championships, Pilato competed at the 2019 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships, held in Budapest, Hungary, where she won the world junior title and gold medal in the 50 metre breaststroke with a time of 30.60 seconds, finishing over three-tenths of a second ahead of silver medalist Kayla van der Merwe of Great Britain and bronze medalist Kaitlyn Dobler of the United States.[9] She also placed sixth in the 100 metre breaststroke with a time of 1:08.21 and fourth in the 4×100 metre medley relay with a final time of 4:05.29.[10]
2019 European Short Course Championships
In December, at the 2019 European Short Course Swimming Championships held in Glasgow, Scotland, Pilato won the gold medal in the 50 metre breaststroke in a world junior record time of 29.32 seconds, after setting world junior records in the preliminaries heats, at 29.62 seconds, and the semifinals, at 29.48 seconds.[11][12][13] She also won a silver medal as part of the 4×100 metre medley relay, splitting a 29.18 for the breaststroke leg of the relay in the final, and placed thirteenth in the preliminaries of the 100 metre breaststroke with a 1:06.07, where she did not advance to the semifinals as she was not one of the two fastest swimmers representing Italy.[13]
2020 Italian National Championships
In December 2020, at 15 years of age, Pilato set a world junior record in the long course 50 metre breaststroke at the 2020 Italian Winter National Swimming Championships, in Riccione, with a time of 29.61 seconds.[14] The following month, she was the recipient of SwimSwam's World Junior Female Swimmer of the Year award for the year 2020.[15]
2021: 16-year-old world record setter in 50 metre breaststroke
In April 2021, at the Italian National Swimming Championships, Pilato achieved a spot on the 2020 Olympic Team for Italy in the 100 metre breaststroke.[16]
2020 European Aquatics Championships
In May 2021, at the 2020 European Aquatics Championships, conducted in long course metres and held in Budapest, Hungary, Pilato tied Sophie Hansson of Sweden for third-rank in the preliminaries of the 100 metre breaststroke with a time of 1:06.34 and did not advance to the semifinals as she was not one of the two fastest Italian swimmers.[17] Four days later, she set a new world junior record in the preliminaries of the 50 metre breaststroke with a time of 29.50 seconds, lowering the former record she set in December by 0.09 seconds, setting a new Championships record, and qualifying for the semifinals ranking first.[18] Later in the day, in the evening semifinals, she set a new world record, world junior record, and Championships record at 16 years, 114 days of age with a time of 29.30 seconds, breaking the former record of 29.40 seconds set by Lilly King in 2017, and qualifying her to the final ranking first.[19][20][21][22] In the final the following day, she won the gold medal and European title with a time of 29.35 seconds, finishing 0.84 seconds ahead of silver medalist Ida Hulkko of Finland.[23]
2021 European Junior Championships
At the 2021 European Junior Swimming Championships, held in early July in Rome, Pilato won the gold medal in the 50 metre breaststroke with a time of 30.13 seconds, and contributed a split of 1:06.58 for the breaststroke leg of the 4×100 metre mixed medley relay in the preliminaries before being substituted out and Simone Cerasuolo substituted in for the finals relay, which went on to be disqualified while swimming.[24]
At the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, Pilato entered as the number six seed in the 100 metre breaststroke, in the prelims round of competition on 25 July 2021, she was disqualified and did not advance to the semifinals round of competition.[25][26][27] The reason for Pilato's disqualification was that she did not move her feet on the same horizontal plane during her kicks, which is also known as a scissor kick.[28]
Leading up to the 2021 European Short Course Swimming Championships held at the Palace of Water Sports in Kazan, Russia in November, Pilato was highlighted as a competitor to watch in one of the top five female races, the 100 metre breaststroke, by SwimSwam.[30] Pilato won her prelims heat in the 100 metre breaststroke on day one of competition, 2 November, with a time of 1:05.23 and ranked fourth amongst Italian swimmers, sixth overall.[31] As Pilato was the fourth fastest Italian across all prelims heats of the event, she did not advance to the semifinals since only the two fastest swimmers in the prelims heats from a country were eligible for the semifinals.[32] On the fifth day, she swam a 29.62 in the prelims heats of the 50 metre breaststroke and qualified for the semifinals ranked first.[33] Later in the day, she swam a 29.67 in the semifinals, ranked second overall, and advanced to the final of the event the next day.[34][35] On the last day of competition, Pilato won her first medal of the competition, a silver medal in the 50 metre breaststroke with a time of 29.75 seconds in the final.[36][37]
2021 World Short Course Championships
Pilato entered to compete in one individual event at the 2021 World Short Course Championships in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, the 50 metre breaststroke.[38][39] In the prelims heats of the event, she ranked third overall with a time of 29.73 seconds and qualified for the semifinals.[40] Pilato qualified for the final of the 50 metre breaststroke with a time of 29.76 seconds in the semifinals, ranking fourth overall.[41][42] In the final, Pilato won the silver medal with a time of 29.50 seconds, finishing less than two-tenths of a second behind gold medalist Anastasia Gorbenko of Israel.[43] Pilato split a 29.78 for the breaststroke leg of the 4×50 metre mixed medley relay in the prelims heats on day three, helping advance the relay to the final ranking fourth.[44] The finals relay, on which Nicolò Martinenghi substituted for Pilato, placed third and she won a bronze medal for her prelims contributions.[45]
2022: World and European champion in 100 metre breaststroke
For the 2022 World Short Course Championships, held in December in Melbourne, Australia, Pilato placed fifteenth in the first of her two individuals events, the 100 metre breaststroke, on the second day of competition with a time of 1:05.46 in the semifinals that did not qualify her to the final.[62] For her second and final event, the 50 metre breaststroke, she improved upon her placing, this time finishing seventh in the final on day six with a time of 29.48 seconds, which was less than one second behind the first-place finisher and less than four-tenths of a second behind the second-place finisher.[63]
Legend: NR – Italian record;WJ – World junior record; Records not set in finals: h – heat; sf – semifinal; r – relay 1st leg; rh – relay heat 1st leg; b – B final; † – en route to final mark; tt – time trial
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