Italian swimmer Silvia di Pietro swam her first race in 16 months this weekend at the Mario Battistelli Trophy, marking a return from an injury to the patellar tendon in her knee. The 25-year old swam a 54.06 in the 100 short course meters freestyle. That’s the 12th-best time of her career and only 9-tenths of a second away from her lifetime best.
Di Pietro surpassed a major milestone in her rehab by diving off the blocks in August. She’s now training with coach Mirko Nozzolillo.
Her last meet was the 2017 World Championships, where she finished 17th in the 50 free (25.07), 19th in the 100 free (54.74), and 16th in the semi-finals of the 50 fly (26.06).
Di Pietro is an Italian Record holder in 11 events, including in long course the 50 free (24.84) and 50 fly (25.78) individually. Internationally, her biggest performances came at the 2016 World Short Course Championships where she won 4 medals: silvers in the 50 free, 400 free relay, and 200 medley relay; and a bronze in the 200 free relay.
Italy had a record-breaking performance this summer at the European Championships where they won 22 medals. They did so without 3 major players who would have normally been on the team. Besides di Pietro, the team was also without Gabriele Detti and Nicolo Martinenghi, who have both also recently returned to competition.