Benedetta Pilato

Pilato competed in the women's 50 metre breaststroke at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships, winning the silver medal, at the age of 14.[4][5]

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).[6] The next day she placed second on the podium in the breaststroke, finishing behind the American Lilly King.[7]

Pilato was the recipient of SwimSwam's World Junior Female Swimmer of the Year award for the year 2020.[8]

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.[9][10] 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.[11]

Pilato was selected to compete on team Energy Standard for the 2021 International Swimming League.[12]

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.[13] 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.[14] 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.[15] 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.[16] 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.[17][18] 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.[19][20]

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.[21][22] In the prelims heats of the event, she ranked third overall with a time of 29.73 seconds and qualified for the semifinals.[23] Pilato qualified for the final of the 50 metre breaststroke with a time of 29.76 seconds in the semifinals, ranking fourth overall.[24][25] 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.[3] 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.[26] The finals relay, on which Nicolò Martinenghi substituted for Pilato, placed third and she won a bronze medal for her prelims contributions.[27]