Ribeiro Takes 50 Fly, Walshe Wins 200 IM On Day One Of Lisbon International Meet

2023 LISBON INTERNATIONAL SWIM MEETING

• Saturday, February 11th & Sunday, February 12th
• Centro Desportivo Nacional do Jamor, Lisbon, Portugal
• LCM (50m)
• SwimSwam Preview
• Results

The 2023 Lisbon International Swim Meeting saw day one kick off today with several meet records and one national record biting the dust.

18-year-old Diogo Ribeiro started things off quickly, competing in his pet event of the men’s 50m butterfly. Ribeiro stopped the clock at 23.77 to grab his first gold of the meet. His time overtook the previous meet standard of 23.97 Jose Canizares put on the books in 2017.

Ribeiro had elite company in the final, with Italy’s Federico Burdisso and Ukraine’s Andrii Govorov chasing him the entire lap. Burdisso, the reigning Olympic bronze medalist in the 200m fly, touched in 24.34 for silver while Govorov snagged bronze in 24.36. Govorov is the current World Record in this event with his lifetime best of 22.27 from 2018.

As for Ribeiro, he is the current 50m fly World Junior champion. Last year in Peru, Ribeiro clocked a new World Junior Record of 22.96 en route to gold, becoming the first junior swimmer ever to dip under the 23-second threshold in the process.

Italy’s Silvia Di Pietro was also in the water tonight, taking on the women’s 50m free. The 29-year-old staked her claim on the event with a morning swim of 25.36, already downing the previous meet record of 26.02 Ireland’s Danielle Hill logged in 2019.

Then in the final, Di Pietro dropped additional time to check in with a result of 25.22 for the gold.

Di Pietro’s countrymate Alessandro Miressi also made his presence known during the session, dominating the men’s 100m freestyle event.

Miressi put up a solid 48.96 to beat the field, conquering the meet record in the process. That former mark was set at 49.91 in 2017 by Quy Phuoc Hoang.

Early in this long course season, Miressi now ranks 5th in the world in the men’s 100m free.

Ireland’s Ellen Walshe raced today as well, taking on the 50m free and 200m IM events. In the former, the University of Tennessee student-athlete placed 9th overall, posting a time of 27.08. That’s actually a personal best for the woman whose previous career-fastest rested at the 27.54 she produced in 2018.

Walshe found golden success in the 2IM, however, hitting a winning effort of 2:14.21. That sliced .30 off of the previous meet record and represents the Lady Vol’s 4th fastest time. Her lifetime best rests at the 2:12.02 she put up at 2021’s Swim Ireland Performance Meet. That remains the Irish national record.

Portugal got on the board once again before the night was through, courtesy of Francisca Martins. Racing in the women’s 200m free, Martins got to the wall in a time of 2:00.96. That not only topped the podium but it overtook her own previous national record of 2:01.30 from last year.

Additional Notes

• Ana Rodrigues touched in a time of 31.42 to win the women’s 50m breaststroke by 2 seconds. Her time established a new meet record.
• Italy’s Lorenzo Mora doubled up on backstroke gold this evening. He first won the 50m sprint in 25.88 then followed up with a mark of 2:01.44 to top the 200m back podium.
• The men’s 400m free saw Carlos Roldan get to the wall first in a time of 3:57.38.