Alberto Razzetti Downs Two Meet Records To Close Out Nico Sapio

50th NICO SAPIO SWIMMING TROPHY

• Friday, November 8th & Saturday, November 9th
• Sciorba Polisportivo Complex
• SCM (25m)
• Meet Central
• SwimSwam Preview
• Day 1 Recap
• Live Results

The 50th Nico Sapio Swimming Trophy continued from Sciorba tonight with several Italian heavy-hitters diving in for bragging rights and Short Course World Championshps qualification.

Per the Italian Swimming Federation’s selection policy, some athletes from the Paris Games have earned automatic qualification for next month’s Short Course World Championships. For others, however, this competition was a chance to punch their tickets to Budapest.

Italy’s Short Course World Championships Qualification

25-year-old Alberto Razzetti made the most of his day 2, reaping victories in both the 200m fly and the 400m IM, hitting new meet records in each.

First, Razzetti punched a time of 1:52.21 to take the 200m fly, erasing his previous meet mark of 1:52.51 in the process.

Razztti split 25.20/28.58/29.07/29.36 to get the job done ahead of Frenchman Clement Secchi who settled for silver in 1:53.00. Alan Vergine rounded out the podium in 1:57.03.

Secchi’s time checks in as a new lifetime best, rendering him France’s 4th-best performer ever. Razzetti’s PB remains at the 1:49.06 national record scored at the 2021 Short Course World Championships.

In the men’s 400m IM, Razzetti crushed the field by over 9 seconds, hitting the wall in 4:06.33. That sliced over half a second off his previous meet record of 4:06.92 from 2023.

18-year-old Sara Curtis also made the most of her racing opportunities here, capturing 2 golds on day 2 to complete her campaign.

The teen was victorious in the women’s 50m back, logging 26.62 to get the edge over Elena Di Liddo who settled for silver in 26.97. French ace Melanie Henique rounded out the podium in 27.16.

Curtis is the reigning World Junior Record holder in this event, courtesy of the 26.08 she put up in April of this year.

Curtis’ next victim was the 50m free where she got to the wall first in 24.39. That was within striking distance of her PB of 24.13 produced in the semi-finals of last year’s European Short Course Championships.

Later in the session, Di Liddo proved to be the decisive winner of the women’s 100m fly, stopping the clock at 57.65 to produce the sole outing of the field under the minute barrier.

Di Liddo opened in 26.99 and closed in 30.66 to top the podium, with Beatrice Demasi earning silver in 1:00.26 followed by Paola Borrelli who clinched bronze in 1:00.31.

Di Liddo is the fastest Italian of all time in this event, owning the national record at 56.06 from the 2018 Short Course World Championships.

Additional Notes

• Samuele Zaccagno dipped under the 3:50 barrier to reap men’s 400m free gold in 3:49.58.
• Frenchman Nicolas Vermorel topped the men’s 50m fly podium in 23.37, with Christian Bacico joining him under 24 seconds with 23.90. Leonardo Deplano bagged bronze in 24.06.
• The women’s 200m free saw a tight battle between Federica Toma and Bianca Nannucci. The former wound up eking the win in 1:57.65 while the latter settled for silver in 1:57.87. The pair were the sole swimmers to dip under the 2:00 mark.
• Falemana Lopez produced a time of 48.99 to take the men’s 100m free.
• Francesco Toniolo came out on top of the men’s 50m breast, registering 26.04, a new personal best to now represent Italy’s 4th best performer ever.
• Lisa Angiolini got it done in the women’s 100m breast, scoring 1:06.19 to beat the field by well over a second.
• The women’s 200m back saw Elisa Maloni clock 2:07.60 for the victory, crushing her previous PB of 2:08.91 from the 2021 edition of this championship.
• Gabriele Mancini hit 2:08.10 as the men’s 200m breaststroke winner.
• Christian Bacico stopped the clock at 51.20 to take the men’s 100m back over Matteo Brunella who was also sub-52 in 51.84.
• Giulia Vetrano touche in 2:12.11 to win the women’s 200m IM.
• Olympian Gabriele Detti topped the men’s 800m free in 7:45.12. He’s been as fast as 7:35.58 in his career.