After falling to countryman Gabriele Detti in both the 400 and 800 freestyles, 19-year-old Gregorio Paltrinieri broke through with a runaway win in the 1500 free, breaking his own Italian record in the process.
Paltrinieri, the 2012 world champ in the event, started his breakaway early, building a one second lead by the 200 mark and doubling that margin by the 300. His 14:44.50 takes another second or so off the Italian mark Paltrinieri set last summer while taking bronze at the World Championships.
Correction: We originally reported that the national record was 14:48.20 set in 2009 as live results indicated. But Paltrinieri broke that record last August. The story has been updated to reflect this.
That time for Paltinieri is also the runaway top time in the world this year, topping Australian Mack Horton by 7 seconds. Detti took second, going a very-respectable 14:56.80 that checks in at third in the world ranks.
2014 LCM Men 1500 Free TYR World Ranking
PALTRINIERI
14.39.93
| 2 | Ryan COCHRANE | CAN | 14.44.03 | 07/24 |
| 3 | Mack HORTON | AUS | 14.48.76 | 07/24 |
| 4 | Sun YANG | CHN | 14.49.75 | 09/26 |
| 5 | Pal JOENSEN | FAR | 14.50.59 | 08/20 |
Another national record saw a narrow-miss: 19-year-old Lisa Fissneider rattled the Italian mark in the 50 breast but ultimately missed it by .01. Her 31.09 was just a fingernail off of Roberta Panara‘s 2009 mark, and also ranks 5th in the world.
Federica Pellegrini also had a big swim on night 4, going 1:55.69 to win the women’s 200 free. That time for Pellegrini leaps to third in the world ranks for the reigning national record-holder, just .01 behind Australian Emma McKeon for second.
2014 LCM Women 200 Free TYR World Ranking
SJOSTROM
1.55.04
| 2 | Katie LEDECKY | USA | 1.55.16 | 08/07 |
| 3 | Femke HEEMSKERK | NED | 1.55.35 | 12/12 |
| 4 | Emma McKEON | AUS | 1.55.57 | 07/24 |
| 5 | Federica PELLEGRINI | ITA | 1.55.69 | 04/11 |
Federico Turrini won a touchout for the national 200 IM crown. He finished in 2:00.34, just holding off a late charge from Damiano Lestingi. The latter took second place in 2:00.48, and Davide Cova roared in from out of nowhere with the fastest closing split (a full second faster than Lestingi and almost two faster than Turrini) to take third in 2:00.65.
Arianna Barbieri won the women’s 50 back in another close race. Barbieri was 28.56, just .06 faster than runner-up Elena Gemo, the Italian record-holder in the event.
There is just one more day of racing left in these Italian National Championships.
ps I think it went largely unnoticed, but in the Men’s 100 back final Simone Sabbioni, year of birth 1996, went 54.74. Isn’t that a Junior World Record, at least according to the new Fina standards?
So…. did no one swim in France today, or what? lol
video of the W 400 free won by Pellegrini:
http://www.rai.tv/dl/RaiTV/programmi/media/ContentItem-0e2fd7b5-abeb-4803-beb6-cf3a790c3430-raisport.html#set=ContentSet-5641942a-28bc-4e65-9a9b-8b6e91005a8c&page=3
Video of the W 200 Free final:
http://www.rai.tv/dl/RaiTV/programmi/media/ContentItem-aeba4963-a7cd-42f6-8bc1-3d6d9d959c61-raisport.html#set=ContentSet-5641942a-28bc-4e65-9a9b-8b6e91005a8c&page=0
Video of the race (I don’t know if you can watch it outside Italy):
http://www.rai.tv/dl/RaiTV/programmi/media/ContentItem-35734211-c59c-4cad-b421-6955fd53829f-raisport.html#set=ContentSet-5641942a-28bc-4e65-9a9b-8b6e91005a8c&page=0
It’s clear that Italy is faster or much faster than France in most of the events.
But at the end of the European championships, there’s a big probability of seeing France well ahead of Italia in the medal table.
But of course.
We have no real stars except for Pellegrini and Paltrinieri. The golden age of Italian swimming has ended in the last decade.
In worlds swimming, to be on top of medal table, it’s better for a country to have two or three superstars than having a bunch of great but not superstars.
Evidence: With only Ian Thorpe, Hackett, and Petria Thomas, Asutralia usurped USA in 2001 worlds.
With Agnel, Manadou and Muffat, France was placed third in London medal table, the highest it ever reached in a major championships, a position which they defended in 2013 Barcelona.
And if Phelps had been his own country, he’d finish third behind USA and Australia in 2008 Beijing, based only on his 5 individual golds.
But to find a superstar, a country may need a decade or so, unless if you are USA, in… Read more »
Totally agree. Bobo Gigi often complaints that they have “only” 4 or 5 swimming stars, but to me it seems not too bad at all!
Pretty sure Paltrinieri was 14:45 last summer for Bronze
You’re absolutely right John. I believe Swim Swam was misled by FIN (the Italian Swimming Federation) itself, which incorrectly posted the old Colbertaldo’s record on top of the webpage showing the results of the 1500 free race of this evening. Paltrinieri had already broken that record last year in Barcelona.
You are correct, the record listed on results had not been updated. The story has been corrected. Thanks!