2019 ITALIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Tuesday, April 2nd – Saturday, April 6th
- Stadio del Nuoto – Riccione (ITA)
- LCM
- SwimSwam Italia Preview
- SwimSwam Preview
- Meet Site
- Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap/Day 3 Recap/Day 4 Recap
- Day 5 Recap
- Start List
- Results
Be sure to check out our SwimSwam Italia Channel for more in-depth and on-site coverage.
Olympic champion Gregorio Paltrinieri sealed up his spot on the Italian roster for this summer’s World Championships, making the squad in the men’s 1500m free. While competing on the final night in Riccione, the 24-year-old freestyle ace clocked a gold medal worth time of 14:38.34 to hit a mark within striking distance of the 14:34.57 he notched in Rio.
Paltrinieri’s time also checks-in as the fastest in the world.
Of his performance, Paltrinieri tells us in the video that, “it’s a good result for this point in time. The 800m wasn’t so good, so this 1500m was better. We’ll see what happens in Gwangju.”
In the 800m at these championships, Paltrinieri finished 2nd behind Gabriele Detti, also qualifying for Gwangju in a solid 7:45.35.
As originally reported:
MEN’S 1500M FREE
- time limit 14:53.9
- GOLD Gregorio Paltrinieri 1438.34
- SILVER Domenico Acerenza 15: 12.96
- BRONZE Alessio Occhipinti 15: ]15.49
24-year-old Olympic gold medalist Gregorio Paltrinieri simply manhandled the 1500m freestyle field tonight, clocking 14:38.34 to dominate the field by over 30 seconds.
Paltrinieri’s gold medal-winning time from Rio was 14:34.57, so tonight’s effort in Riccione was within 4 seconds of that outing. The Italian’s time easily overtake the top spot in the world’s rankings, beating out what German Florian Wellbrock produced last night in Bergen of 14:44.80, as well as what Sun Yang of China hit at his Nationals (14:55.00).
2018-2019 LCM MEN 1500 FREE
WELLBROCK
14.36.54
| 2 | Myhailo ROMANCHUK | UKR | 14.37.63 | 07/28 |
| 3 | Gregorio PALTRINIERI | ITA | 14.38.34 | 04/06 |
| 4 | David AUBRY | FRA | 14.44.72 | 07/28 |
| 5 | Henrik CHRISTIANSEN | NOR | 14.45.35 | 07/28 |
Paltrinieri’s time tonight checks-in as the 14th fastest performance of all-time, according ot the USA Swimming global database.
It is quite confusing. Palintieri has the craziest technique I have ever encountered at the elite level. I thought Stefan Nystrand was unorthodox, but Palitieri may have him beat. Legs crossing over with each stroke to such a degree that he has almost no meaningful kick at all. Swinging his left arm around in a wide arc, picking his head up on each breath.
Yet he is so fast….how on earth does he do it?
He has a HUGE engine!
Because of his high tempo mainly. Obviously he doesn’t pull as much water as someone like Romanchuk, but his tempo makes up for it. Quite amazing he can maintain that for a 1500 honestly. Testament to his aerobic capacity and training.
Balance is everything. If you put all the wrong motions in the right order you achieve balance and he has.
It’s not pretty to watch, but it sure as heck works.
Have to disagree there, I could watch it all day. I much prefer Paltrinieri’s high energy yet smooth stroke to watching Romanchuk lazily glide through a 1500 without ever looking like he’s trying.
From an entertainment perspective he might be more enjoyable to watch but any swimmer will have massive respect for the way Romanchuk swims the 1500. Making it look that “easy” while swimming in the 14:30’s is an amazing feat and has to be very difficult to maintain
Several answers. One: what happens below the water is equally if not more important, and he has a great catch. Two: look at how high he stays on top of the water, his back is almost dry. Three: as someone else said, he has the heart of a horse.