Burdisso Takes Down Cseh 200 Fly Geneva International Challenge Meet Record

2025 GENEVA INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGE

• Friday, January 24th – Sunday, January 26th
• Geneva, Switzerland
• LCM (50m)
• Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap
• Live Results
• Livestream

The 58th edition of the annual Geneva International Challenge concluded last night with multiple meet records biting the dust at this early-season competition.

Italy’s Olympic medalist Federico Burdisso was among the record breakers, with the 23-year-old producing a winning effort of 1:56.72 to take the men’s 200m fly.

Burdisso split 25.65/29.02/30.30/31.75 to register the sole outing of the field under the 2:00 barrier. Behind him was Spain’s Miguel Martinez who touched in 2:00.85 followed by Matteo Palmisani of Italy who posted 2:01.03 for bronze.

Burdisso’s result overtook the former competition benchmark of 1:57.37 Hungarian Olympic icon Laszlo Cseh put on the books in 2016.

Looking at the season’s rankings of this men’s 2fly, Burdisso now checks in as the 6th fastest performer thus far.

Spanish teenager Nayara Pineda Lopez was the top women’s 100m breaststroker, establishing a new meet record for swimmers 17&U en route to victory.

In the morning heats, Lopez produced a top-seeded effort of 1:10.07, a swim that overtook Belgian Elise Mattyssen‘s competition mark of 1:10.56 logged in 2008.

In the end, Lopez dropped the record even further, putting up a gold medal-worthy 1:09.29 to get to the wall first in the final.

Lopez’s career-quickest outing remains at the 1:07.90 produced at the 2023 Rotterdam Qualification Meet. The Spaniard is the reigning European Junior Championsips bronze medalist in the 50m breast from last year in Lithuania.

Host nation swimmer Roman Mityukov followed up his 200m back gold from night 2 with another top finish in the 100m back.

The Olympic bronze medalist scored a time of 54.47 to hold a healthy advantage over Italy’s Michele Lamberti and Israel’s Tomar Shuster. The former turned in 55.03 for silver while the latter’s mark of 55.61 garnered him the bronze.

After earning multiple golds on day 2, Belgian national record holder Roos Vanotterdijk dove back in for the women’s 100m back.

The 20-year-old put up a time of 1:00.80 to lead the pack, a result just over a second off her personal best of 59.62 from the 2023 Fleimish Championships.

A pair of Italians grabbed the minor medals, with Anita Gastaldi posting 1:01.65 followed by teammate Sara Curtis who touched in 1:01.95.

18-year-old Curtis upgraded to gold in the women’s 50m free final, turning in a time of 25.19.

Vanotterdijk settled for silver in the race in 25.50 while Italian Chiara Tarantino rounded out the podium in 25.73.

Curtis owns the Italian national record in the splash n’ dash, courtesy of the 24.56 she threw down at last year’s Italian Championships. At the 2024 Olympic Games, the teen placed 14th in 24.77, having logged 24.67 in the heats.

Additional Winners

• The men’s 200m free saw Italy’s Carlos D’Ambrosio register the sole time of the field under 1:50 in 1:49.77.
• Francisca Soares Martins of Portugal put up a time of 2:00.12 to top the women’s 200m free podium. Lucrezia Domina, also of Italy, scored silver in 2:01.09. Bronze went to France’s Maeline Bessard who logged a new meet record for 17&U in 2:01.46. The old mark was held by Italian Olympic multi-medalist Federica Pellegrini at 2:02.39 from 2004.
• Spain’s Laura Cabanes Garzas topped the women’s 200m fly podium in 2:13.80.
• The men’s 100m breast saw Italian Andrea Prapugicu get it done for gold in 1:02.03.
• Jordan Cooley of Great Britain hit the sole time of the men’s 50m free field under 23 seconds, reaching the wall in 22.76 as the gold medalist.