As we reported earlier today, Italy’s Andrea Toniato set a new World University Games record and recorded the 3rd-fastest time in the world in 2015 with the 27.06 he swam in the 50 breast in the Day 5 preliminary session.
However, Toniato also set a new Italian national record with that swim. Previously, Fabio Scozzoli held that record, a 27.17 he swam at the 2011 World Championships in Shanghai. Scozzoli also set the Italian record in the 100 breast at that meet, a record which still stands at 59.42.
Toniato’s previous best in the 50m breast was a 27.25, which he recorded just last month at the Sette Colli meet in Rome. He’ll have potentially two more chances to lower his personal best, and the Italian record: Wednesday night for the semifinals and Thursday night’s finals, assuming he advances out of the semifinals.
Back on Day 1, Toniato finished 9th in the semifinals of the 100 breast, swimming a 1:01.13 after coming out of preliminaries with the 6th seed. His personal best in the 100m breast is a 1:00.42, which he swam at the Italian Summer Championships in 2013. That is good for the 4th-fastest for Italy all-time.
The Italian Spring National Championships in April doubled as the selection meet for Italy’s World Championships team for this summer. There, Toniato finished 3rd in both the 50m and the 100m breast, just missing out on a spot on the Kazan roster.