Italians Zofkova, Cusinato Lower National Records On Day 5 In Glasgow

2018 LEN EUROPEAN AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

A pair of Italian records fell during day five finals at the European Championships in Glasgow, as Carlotta Zofkova broke the mark in winning bronze in the women’s 100 back and Ilaria Cusinato broke her own record to advance into tomorrow’s 200 IM finals.

Zofkova had lowered her personal best in the preliminaries in a time of 1:00.07 and then broke the minute barrier for the first time in the semi-finals in 59.88. That swim put her less than a tenth outside of Margherita Panziera‘s National Record of 59.80 set earlier this year.

Panziera was certainly the one expected to take out the record, having been 59.86 in the prelims, but it was Zofkova who prevailed in the final with a time of 59.61, winning the bronze medal. Panziera took 5th, also under the previous record in 59.71, as Russia’s Anastasiia Fesikova (59.19) and Great Britain’s Georgia Davies (59.36) won gold and silver.

Zofkova also set the Italian Record in the 50 back, clocking 27.94 in the semis before placing 6th in the final.

In the 200 IM, Cusinato brought her mark of 2:10.92 set at the Sette Colli Trophy down to 2:10.77 to advance 3rd into tomorrow’s final. Comparing the splits of her two record swims, she was slightly quicker on the front-half here (1:01.66 to 1:02.27), and was about the same on breast before going about four-tenths slower on the freestyle.

She enters the final seeded 3rd behind world record holder Katinka Hosszu and the 3rd fastest woman ever Siobhan-Marie O’Connor. Hosszu also placed 4th between the two Italians in the 100 back final.

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About James Sutherland

James Sutherland

James swam five years at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, specializing in the 200 free, back and IM. He finished up his collegiate swimming career in 2018, graduating with a bachelor's degree in economics. In 2019 he completed his graduate degree in sports journalism. Prior to going to Laurentian, James swam …

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