2025 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
- July 27 – August 3, 2025 (pool swimming)
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A statement from the Italian Swimming Federation (FIN) says 2016 Olympic champion Gregorio Paltrinieri sustained a small avulsion fracture to the ring finger of his left hand in the opening meters of the 10 km open water race on July 16 in Singapore.
The captain of the Italian team—who still finished second behind Germany’s Florian Wellbrock—plans to start the men’s 5 km race tomorrow (Friday, July 18), but will skip his pool races.
Official FIN statement (translated):
Gregorio Paltrinieri underwent an X‑ray that revealed the detachment of a small bone fragment at the insertion of the extensor tendon on the distal (third) phalanx of the fourth finger of his left hand. The injury occurred during the 10‑kilometer open water race swum in Sentosa on Wednesday, which concluded with a silver medal. Paltrinieri, who trained as usual today, will compete in the 5‑kilometer race scheduled for Friday at 4:00 AM Italian time (10:00 AM local), using protective taping on the interphalangeal joint. His condition will continue to be monitored daily. Paltrinieri is also entered in the 3 km knockout sprint (Saturday at 2:00 AM) and the 4×1500 m mixed relay (Sunday at 2:00 AM), and will return to Italy at the end of the open water events.
Paltrinieri was additionally entered in the 800m and 1500m freestyle events at the pool portion of the World Championships (July 27–August 3). He came in with the #5 seed in the 800 free (7:39.38)—behind Sven Schwarz (GER, 7:38.12), Daniel Wiffen (IRL, 7:38.19), Bobby Finke (USA, 7:38.75) and Lukas Märtens (GER, 7:39.10)—and the #2 seed in the 1500 free (14:34.55), trailing only Finke’s 14:30.67 and sitting ahead of Germany’s Wellbrock (14:36.25).
From teenage breakthrough bronze in the 1500 free at 2013 World Championship in Barcelona (ESP) to open‑water silver in Singapore 2025, Gregorio Paltrinieri has medaled at every World Championships he’s contested—spanning pool distance freestyle and the full spectrum of open water events.
His 17‑medal haul (6 gold, 6 silver, 5 bronze) includes world titles in both the 1500 pool and the 10km open water, a rare dual‑discipline resume that underscores his range, durability, and competitive edge across more than a decade at the top of global distance swimming.
Aussie MoJo takes second Gold with 5000m victory.
logic would make me say he had no chance to medal in the 800 and 1500 free, with all long younger distance specialists rising, but I said this every meeting after tokyo olympics, so he’s a guy that should never get overlooked
how did he break his finger? collision with another swimmer or object?
Yes
I hope his 5k goes well, and sad to see him have to pull out of the rest of the meet. He’s a legend in the sport and has had more than his share of bad luck at big meets.
I don’t understand the logic of skipping pool events because of the injury but still doing open water.
I would imagine that hitting the wall at the end of a pool race with the injured finger could cause a lot of damage. In any case, I think it would have been extremely tough for him, at his age, to have great pool sessions after doing all of that intense open water racing the week before.
Yeah, and/or the dive could be tough. I would hope that in a 800/1500 you could just plan how to finish with your off hand and not lose too much time.
Iirc his original plan was not to contest pool events but then he decided to sign up for them so he clearly is enjoying OW swimming a lot more this year
I would guess the extra 2 weeks + of being there and continuing to aggravate it is part of it. 1500 is on the 3rd of August
It’s probably not ideal to swim the rest of the open water with it, and just too far fetched to be reasonable to stretch that out another 2 weeks without whatever treatment plan they plan on doing.
Wow what a tough boy!
MOC would own the 150m WR and you would own the couch critic WR
Woah woah woah hold up everyone! I wasn’t being sarcastic! I was applauding him for swimming his whole 10k with a broken finger from the start and still getting on the podium! Mental strength at 100!! I’ve loved Greg for years!
I was screaming for him with that outside smoke in Budapest 22!