Venus Altamura, a shining bronze in Singapore

The 2025 World Aquatics Championships, the season's highlight for Masters swimmers, concluded in Singapore. The event saw the world's strongest amateur and former competitive swimmers line up in the Asian pools. The age-groups, starting at 25 and ending at 90-94, saw over 3,000 athletes compete, including some from Puglia, including Venere Altamura of Molfetta. She has spent thirty years swimming in Apulian and Italian pools, and has studied at a university that has led her to become a computer engineer specializing in cybersecurity . As a Masters swimmer, she has won several Italian and European titles, and participation in the World Championships was the missing piece. In her first race, she even secured the bronze medal in the 800-meter freestyle (M30 category), beating gold medalist Alisa Fatum Boler of Germany and Allison Arnold of the United States.

Venere Altamura, a member of Sport Project Bari, finished her race in 9:35.85. Experience and tenacity led her to the world podium: "Here in Singapore, I competed in all the freestyle races, from 100 to 800 meters. The first race, the 800, allowed me to break the ice with a distance that suits me. I'm happy with my placing (third place), but comparing myself with my coach Daniele Borace, whom I thank for preparing me, especially in the last few months before my departure, I still have room for improvement in terms of timing, and perhaps I felt the effects of the 10-hour flight the day before." Bringing so many races to such an important World Championship is not easy for everyone, and choosing which ones to compete in was also a preliminary step towards Altamura's preferred distances: "The 100 and 200 freestyle are races where you have to completely change pace, and competing against pure sprinters is always challenging, and the results I've achieved are in line with my expectations."

After winning bronze in the 800m freestyle at the start of the day, the icing on the cake was missing: "In my last race—the 400m freestyle—I tried to make my mark in a distance more suited to me. I finished fourth, and it was a wonderful experience. I could have done a little better in the race, but I'm still happy to have competed against strong people who share this passion with us." This is her first World Masters title after a long competitive career, which she abandoned first for studies and then for work, but a competitive swimmer can never stop swimming and training to experience these emotions even when her biological clock says it's time to stop: "Overall, it's a truly wonderful experience to be able to swim in this large facility, which hosted elite athletes until a week ago—Benedetta Pilato, Chiara Tarantino, Marco, and Luca De Tulli competed in the World Aquatics Center two weeks ago in the senior world championships—and above all, it's wonderful and important to compete against strong international athletes."

The talented swimmer from Puglia was also celebrated by the city administration of her hometown of Molfetta. Councilor for Sport, Enzo Spadavecchia, wrote on their official website: "Venere's success is a source of great satisfaction for our entire community. Once again, sport has proven to be a vehicle for emotion and pride, capable of uniting the city around the values ​​of commitment, passion, and determination. Our warmest applause goes to Venere for having elevated the name of Molfetta in a top-level international context." Celebrations will follow her return to Italy, when the recently renovated municipal swimming pool, managed by the very club for which the thirty-year-old swims, will be inaugurated in the town north of Bari. "Now," adds Councilor Spadavecchia, "we await Venere in her city to celebrate her as she deserves and to symbolically entrust her with the task of inaugurating the new life of the municipal swimming pool."