2 National Records Broken in Back-to-Back Events at Italian Nationals

2017 Italian National Championships

• December 1-2, 2017]
• 25m (SCM)
• Riccione, Italy
• Live Results

National Records were broken in back-to-back events during the 2nd timed finals session of the 2017 Italian Open Short Course Championships in Riccione on Friday.

The first record came in the men’s 200 fly, where 26-year old Matteo Rivolta swam a 1:53.06. That took out the 1:53.72 done by Niccolo’ Beni in 2009 in this same pool. For Rivolta, who is a better short course than long course swimmer, that’s a 3-second time drop. Rivolta now holds the short course records in all 3 butterfly events.

The next record came from a newer face – 22-year old Margherita Panziera. The 22-year old from GS Fiamme Oro Roma/Circolo Canottieri Aniene swam a 2:03.15 in the 200 back, which broke the record of the legendary Federica Pellegrini, who swam 2:03.75 in 2013 – after her first renaissance of swimming as a backstroker. Pellegrini didn’t swim the race on Friday, leaving Panziera to win by more than 4 seconds.

Her previous best in this event was just a 2:05.60 from the 2015 European Championships. She’s been a 2:09.43 in long course – which put her 7th in the final at this summer’s World Championships.