SwimSwam Pulse: 47% Most Impressed By Italy’s Euro Showing

SwimSwam Pulse is a recurring feature tracking and analyzing the results of our periodic A3 Performance Polls. You can cast your vote in our newest poll on the SwimSwam homepage, about halfway down the page on the right side, or you can find the poll embedded at the bottom of this post.

Our most recent poll asked SwimSwam readers which nation was most impressive at the 2018 European Championships:

RESULTS

Question: What nation impressed you most at Euros?

  • Italy – 47.1%
  • Great Britain – 29.9%
  • Russia – 19.3%
  • Other – 3.8%

Nearly half of voters said Italy was the most impressive nation at the 2018 European Championships.

Italy won 6 swimming golds, which bettered their 5 apiece from the 2016 and 2014 editions, but their total pool swimming medal count jumped from 15 in 2014 to 17 in 2016 to a whopping 22 in 2018. That accounted for more medals than any nation other than Russia and the host Great Britain.

It also included an incredibly high number of breakout performances. Even without a gold medal from their dynamic distance pair Gregorio Paltrinieri and Gabrielle Detti (who have won a combined 14 long course European Champs medals), Italy still won a half-dozen events, most of them by fast-rising breakout performers. Their gold medalists:

Italy should get back Detti and fast-rising breaststroker Nicolo Martinenghi from injury next year, and if exciting young talents like Miressi (age 19), Federico Burdisso (age 16), Quadarella (age 19), Arianna Castiglioni (age 20), Ilaria Cusinato (age 18) keep rising, the Italian delegation for the 2019 Worlds and 2020 Olympics could be one of the best swim teams on the planet.

Great Britain got almost 30% of the votes after leading all nations with 4 relay golds. Their 24 total and 9 gold medals were second overall to Russia, which got nearly 20% of the votes after bagging 10 gold and 26 overall medals. Great Britain (Adam Peaty100 breast) and Russia (Kliment Kolesnikov50 back) had the only two world records of the meet, as well.

 

Below, vote in our new A3 Performance Pollwhich asks voters to pick the most impressive relay split over the past week:

What was the most impressive relay split from Pan Pacs/Euros?

View Results

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A3 Performance is an independently-owned, performance swimwear company built on a passion for swimming, athletes, and athletic performance. We encourage swimmers to swim better and faster at all ages and levels, from beginners to Olympians.  Driven by a genuine leader and devoted staff that are passionate about swimming and service, A3 Performance strives to inspire and enrich the sport of swimming with innovative and impactful products that motivate swimmers to be their very best – an A3 Performer.

The A3 Performance Poll is courtesy of A3 Performance, a SwimSwam partner

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nuotofan
5 years ago

Really impressive improvements by many Italian swimmers in the last season. I’ll consider some cases writing first of all their PB before this season and then their PB now

Andrea Vergani 50free: 22.12-21.37
Alessandro Miressi 100 free: 48.71-47.92
Federico Burdisso 100 fly: 53.58-51-73; 200 fly 1.57.83-1.55.97; 200 free 1.52.99-1.48.95; 200 im 2.08.47-2.02.38
Thomas Ceccon 100 free 50.42-48.87; 100 back 54.72-53.85; 200 im 2.02.16-2.00.43
Piero Codia 100 fly 51.09-50.64
Simona Quadarella 400 free 4.08.16-4.03.35; 800 free 8.20.54-8.16.45; 1500 free 15.53.86-15.51.61
Carlotta Zofkova 100 back 1.01.03-59.61
Margherita Panziera 200 back 2.09.43-2.06.18
Ilaria Cusinato 200 im 2.12.73-2.10.25; 400 im 4.40.70-4.34.65
Arianna Castiglioni 50 breast 30.33-30.30; 100 breast 1.06.95-1.06.54
Elena Di Liddo 100 fly 57.94-57.38

Luigi
5 years ago

You should watch out for Thomas Ceccon too. 17 yo, talented in all strokes except breast.

Brownish
Reply to  Luigi
5 years ago

There’s Martinenghi.

Luigi
Reply to  Brownish
5 years ago

Martinenghi is already mentioned in the article

marklewis
5 years ago

Freestyle is the stroke where Italy gotten a lot of their medals.

Why are they so good in the freestyle.

Emanuele
Reply to  marklewis
5 years ago

Great tradition. Italian first ever swimming medal was in free, the first italian wr was in free and a lot of italians great were freestyler (lamberti, rosolino, brembilla, magnini – calligari, pellegrini). Great tradition in breast too.
On the other side both fly and back are extremely weak, but maybe the youngster (ceccon, burdjsso, panziera) will change that too.

Brownish
Reply to  Emanuele
5 years ago

The youngster Codia?

Emanuele
Reply to  Brownish
5 years ago

Do you read Codia in my sentence?
Codia is a great guy but he always underperform in the big stage. He probably has that 50.6 in him since 2016, last week was probably in the mental condition to perform at his best (8 line, great performance in prelim awful in semi, no-pressure, no big shot at his side) but I doubt he will repeat next year.

About Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson swam for nearly twenty years. Then, Jared Anderson stopped swimming and started writing about swimming. He's not sick of swimming yet. Swimming might be sick of him, though. Jared was a YMCA and high school swimmer in northern Minnesota, and spent his college years swimming breaststroke and occasionally pretending …

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