Simone Stefani Busts Out 49.13 100 Fly As 9th Fastest Performer All Time

ITALIAN SHORT COURSE WINTER CHAMPIONSHIPS

• November 30 – December 1, 2021
• SCM (25m)
• Riccione, Italy
• Additional qualifying opportunity for Short Course World Championships
• Day 1 Recap
• Live Results

The action continued on day two of these Italian Short Course Winter Championships, carrying on after Olympic icon Federica Pellegrini swam the final race of her prolific career.

Adding another World Junior Record to his resume, 18-year-old Simone Cerasuolo notched the winning time of 56.66 in the men’s 100m breaststroke. This was after he already nailed a new WJR yesterday in the 50m breaststroke. You can read up on this teen’s breakthrough performances here.

In the women’s breaststroke events, first Arianna Castiglioni grabbed gold in the 50m, posting a mark of 29.64 as the only swimmer to delve under the 30-second barrier.

Her time here in Riccione actually beat out her season-best of 29.66 which is what she produced in Kazan for gold at this year’s European Short Course Championships. Both times dip under the 29.9 Italian Federation-mandated qualification mark for this month’s Short Course World Championships.

Later in the women’s 200m breaststroke, Francesca Fangio topped the podium in a mark of 2:19.74. That easily handled the field, with the next closest competitor represented by Ilaria Cusinato and her silver medal-garnering 2:23.38.

Fangio has already qualified for Abu Dhabi in this event thanks to her bronze medal performance of 2:19.69 in Kazan.

Cusinato later took the women’s 400m IM, earning a time of 4:32.56 to beat the next closest competitor by nearly 4 seconds.

Lorenzo Mora did damage across two men’s backstroke events on the day, capturing the top spot in both the 50m and 200m distances. In the former, Mora clinched gold in 23.43 while in the latter he earned the same medal result in a time of 1:50.27.

Notably, Mora negative split his race this evening, opening in 55.14 (26.55/28.59) and closing in 55.13 (27.97/27.16). His time here sits less than a second outside of the 1:49.73 he logged in Kazan for European Short Course Championships silver, as well as a ticket to Abu Dhabi.

A big-time performance came in the men’s 100m fly, with Simone Stefani busting out a time of 49.13 to destroy the field. The 21-year-old had never before been under the 50-second threshold, entering this meet with a personal best of 50.56 from just last month.

Tonight, however, splitting 23.09/26.04, Stefani manhandled the likes of Piero Codia who touched over 1 1/2 seconds later in 50.86.

Stefani’s time here easily clears the 49.8 Italian Federation mandated cut for Abu Dhabi but his result also renders him as Italy’s #2 performer all-time. Only national record holder Matteo Ravolta has been faster with his Italian standard of 48.64 from the ISL playoffs.

Looking outside of Italy, Stefani’s 49.13 now checks him in as the 9th fastest performer. His time would have taken gold in Kazan, as well as claimed bronze at the 2018 edition of the FINA Short Course World Championships.

Additional Notes:

• Olympic medalist Simona Quadarella and Martina Caramignoli finished in the same 1-2 positions in today’s 400m free as they did in yesterday’s 800m free. Quadarella posted a mark of 4:03.29 to comfortably get the win over Caramignoli who touched in 4:04.17.
• The women’s 50m fly saw yesterday’s 50m free winner Silvia di Pietro top the podium in a mark of 25.38. She was this year’s European Short Course bronze medalist with a time there in Kazan of 25.09.
• Thomas Ceccon was the leader of the men’s 200m free, clinching the only sub-1:44 time of the field in 1:43.45.
• The women’s 200m fly saw Anna Pirovano earn the top spot in 2:06.41.
• Lorenzo Zazzeri, the 50m free silver medalist from Kazan, topped that event here in a time of 21.25.
• Giulia D’Innocenzo posted a time of 57.55 to come out ahead of the women’s 100m backstroke field. Martina Cenci was tonight’s silver medalist in 57.91 while Margherita Panziera rounded out the top 3 in 58.52.
• Matteo Lamberti took the men’s 1500m free in 14:38.45 while Laura Letrari was successful as the top performer in the women’s 100m IM in 1:00.23.
• The men’s 200m IM saw Alberto Razzetti get to the wall over 2 seconds ahead of the pack, registering a time of 1:54.64. The man already earned a ticket to Abu Dhabi, courtesy of his bronze medal-garnering race in Kazan.
• Costanza Cocconcelli hit 53.67 to beat out di Liddo’s 53.86 in the women’s 100m free.