Italian Carlos D’Ambrosio Becomes Youngest Sub-48 Freestyler in His Country’s History

2025 World Championships

• July 27 – August 3, 2025 (pool swimming)
• Singapore, Singapore
• World Aquatics Championships Arena
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• How To Watch
• SwimSwam Preview Index
• Entry Book
• Live Results
• Live Recaps
  • Prelims: Day 1
  • Finals:

Italian 17-year-old Carlos D’Ambrosio split 47.96 in prelims of the men’s 400 free relay on Sunday to kick off the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore. That swim is not only a lifetime best, it is a new Italian Age Record and makes him the youngest swimmer in his country’s history to go faster than 48 seconds in the event.

D’Ambrosio already held the 17-18 record with a 48.14 done at the Sette Colli Trophy in late June and had no trouble carrying that success forward to Worlds.

He swam 48.58 at Italian Trials in April on a relay leadoff, which was just shy of his lifetime best of .03 from last year (he regularly swims fast in this relay leadoff slot). He swam only 48.60 in the individual event final, which in many years would not have been enough to take an individual spot, but this year it was: Manuel Frigo won in 48.34, Lorenzo Zazzeri was 3rd in 48.62, and the Italian Record holder Alessandro Miressi was just 4th in 48.74.

D’Ambrosio’s progression:

D’Ambrosio did most of his work to improve in the front-half of the race. He hasn’t done much sprinting at major meets, preferring to focus on the 100 and 200 freestyle like many of the world’s top young talents (Pan Zhanle, David Popovici), but the front-half improvement could bode well for the future of his 50 – or at least indicate a training choice.

He is now tied as the 3rd-fastest Italian ever:

All-Time Rankings, Italian Men’s 100 LCM Freestyle:

1. Alessandro Mirsessi – 47.45
2. Thomas Ceccon – 47.71
3. (TIE)
   1. Luca Dotto – 47.96
   2. Lorenzo Zazzeri – 47.96
   3. Carlos D’Ambrosio – 47.96
4. Filippo Magnini – 48.04

The previous best swimmer at this age in Italian history was Ceccon, who swam 48.87 in 2001, so D’Ambrosio is well ahead of pace in Italian history.

In a race where a lot of big names seemed to back off their best efforts, D’Ambrosio raced full-speed to help Italy to a 3rd seed. With only .85 seconds separating them from the Neutral Athletes B (aka Russian) relay, which was 9th and missed the final, there wasn’t too much room to play with for the Italian quartet. D’Ambrosio ultimately had the #2 leadoff leg behind Hungary’s Nandor Nemeth.

D’Ambrosio was the 9th-youngest man in prelims; the only younger swimmer who helped lead his team to the final was Britain’s Jacob Mills, who split 48.34 on his team’s leadoff as they qualified 6th. Mills was born in September 2007 while D’Ambrosio was born in February of the same year.

Mills’ best time is 48.03.