Federica Pellegrini Swims 1:55.8 in 200 Free Time Trial Behind Closed Doors

A day after time-trialing a 53.6 100 long course meter free against two male training partners, legendary Italian swimmer Federica Pellegrini clocked a hand-timed 1:55.8 in the 200 free, her specialty event, this week. This according to Sky Sport journalist Lia Capizzi.

Training behind closed doors in Verona, Pellegrini’s time is not an official result. If it were, however, it would be a FINA “A” cut and rank her 5th in the world. These things could still be critical because, if the Olympic Games were to be held this summer as scheduled, most countries have cancelled or postponed their Olympic Trials meets, meaning that federations might have to look for alternative criteria by which to select their Olympic teams.

Pellegrini’s training is at the Federal Center of Verona and is in line with Italian government decrees on sporting facilities that those “which can be used behind closed doors only for training sessions of athletes recognized as of national interest by CONI (Italian Olympic committee) and their respective federations, in view of their participation in the Olympic Games or national and international events.”

Still, the significance of the moment is not lost on her coach Matteo Giunta, who told SkySports “The priority now is to win the battle with the coronavirus. The Olympic Games? The most important thing is that all the athletes are put in the same conditions to prepare, otherwise it would not be right.”

In a simulated morning/finals swim, Pellegrini swam an early 1:57.4 before her afternoon 1:55.8. The world leader is American Katie Ledecky, who swam a 1:54.59 at the Des Moines Pro Swim Series meet 2 weeks ago, shortly before the world began to shut down to stem the spread of coronavirus.

There are pros and cons, it then depends on whether the delay should be one year or two years,” said Giunta.“For a 32-year-old athlete like Federica it is one thing to compete in 2021 and another to do it in 2022. Again, health comes first. And then it is important that all athletes are put in the same conditions to participate. We are lucky, we are training behind closed doors, but others are unable to do so, they have their sports facilities closed, they have just closed the pools in the USA too. Now, there must be adequate preparation that is the same for everyone in the world. Otherwise it wouldn’t be fair.”

Pellegrini made similar comments last week when she said that it would be hard, at 32-years old, for her to imagine competing at the Olympic Games if it were postponed until 2022. Pellegrini has stated many times that she expects to retire after the 2020 Olympics.

Pellegrini is the World Record holder in the 200 free in long course (1:52.98), set in 2009. Last summer in Gwangju, she won the World Championship in this event, which was her 3rd long course world title over 200 meters. That also marked a record 6th-straight long course World Championship meet with a 200 free medal, which is a longer streak than anybody in the sport’s history in any event.

She is the 2008 Olympic gold medalist in the 200 free, though that was her last Olympic medal of any color. She also won silver in 2004.

Italy is the heart of the European outbreak of coronavirus-caused COVID-19. The 47,021 confirmed cases there are the most outside of China (and comes at a far-higher rate of infection than in China), and the 4,032 deaths in Italy are the most of any country in the world.