Ceccon Continues Breakout Year; Downs Kolesnikov’s 200 IM EJR

CAMPIONATO ITALIANO OPEN

• November 30th – December 1st, 2018
• Stadio del Nuoto – Riccione – Italy
• SCM
• Swimswam Italia preview
• Entry List
• Results

While competing in Riccione this weekend, young gun Thomas Ceccon fired off a new Italian Record in the men’s 200m IM. The 17-year-old produced a winning time of 1:53.26 to overtake the previous NR of 1:54.53 set by Federico Turrini back in 2013.

Entering this weekend’s Italian Open, Ceccon’s SCM personal best sat at the 1:54.64 he notched just a couple of weeks ago in Livorno. That result marked his first time under the 1:55 threshold in the event.

In Riccione, however, Ceccon blasted spits of 24.53/28.20/33.46/27.07 to capture his winning 1:53.26 effort. In doing so, the teen also broke the European Junior Record in the race, a time held by Russian dynamo Kliment Kolesnikov. Kolesnikov held the previous EJR at 1:53.36 set back in 2017.

Ceccon’s effort also outperforms Kolesnikov in the current world rankings, bumping the Russian out of the top 5 performers this season.

Ceccon is continuing his breakout year, one that includes 4 individual medals at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games. At that meet in Buenos Aires, the Italian displayed versatility, winning gold in the 50m free (22.33), silver in the 50m back (25.27), bronze in the 100m back (53.65) and silver in the 200m IM (2:01.29) – all LCM.

The emerging star is on the list of Italian athletes selected to compete in Hangzhou, so we’ll see what Ceccon has left in the tank at the upcoming Short Course World Championships.