Marco Orsi
Born Dec. 11, 1990 Marco Orsi is an Olympic swimmer and national record holder from Italy. Orsi is primarily a sprint freestyler, and has represented Italy in numerous international competitions. Being the raw sprinter that he is, Orsi travelled to the U.S. in early 2015 to train with Brett Hawke at Auburn University.
Fastest man in Italy
In Dec. 2014 Orsi made headlines when he broke two Italian records, confirming that he is the fastest man in Italian history – he broke his own national record in the 50m freestyle, which he had set in 2009 wearing a now banned polyurethane suit. After winning a silver medal at the short course World Championships in Doha, Orsi claims that lowering his record was a way of confirming his result in long course. Orsi broke his first Italian national record in 2009 in the 50m freestyle, but he lowered his own record in 2014. He also broke the short course 100m freestyle record by just .1 seconds.
Junior Championship career
Orsi opened his international swimming career at the 2007 European Junior Championships, and his best finish was fourth as a member of the 400m freestyle relay. The following year he travelled to Mexico as apart of Italy’s World Junior Championship Team. He swam multiple events, but he won gold as a member of the 400m freestyle relay.
Step up to seniors
At the 2008 European Short Course Championships Orsi brought home a silver in the 200m freestyle relay. He won numerous medals from 2009 to 2014 in relay swims including two gold medals in the 200m freestyle relay at the 2010 and 2011 European Short Course Championships.
London Olympics
He made his Olympic debut at the 2012 London Olympics, qualifying in the 50m freestyle after earning the qualifying mark at the 2012 Italian Championships.
Individual medal win
Orsi won his only individual medal from a World Championship competition at the 2014 World Championships in Doha, when he finished second in the 50m freestyle. At the same meet he also earned a bronze medal in the 200m freestyle relay.
2015 World Championships
Going into the World Championships, Orsi was one of the top 10 fastest 50m freestyle and 100-meter freestyle swimmers in the world. Orsi qualified in his primary sprint events, and advanced to the championship final of the 50-meter free after finishing 4th place in the semi-finals. Although finishing in the exact same time Orsi dropped two places to finish 6th overall in the final. Orsi also swam the 100-meter free, but didn’t make it to the championship final after finishing 14th in the semi-final of the event. He also swam the 3rd leg of the 4×100-meter free relay that finished 3rd overall.
2017 SCM European Championships
Orsi won the 100 IM ahead of another veteran competitor Sergei Fesikov. He also anchored the 4×50 freestyle relay where Italy finished second. Orsi had the third fastest relay leg out of the entire field.
2018 Short Course World Championships
In Hangzhou, Orsi continued his new found success in the 100 IM, building off of his Italian record set previous to the meet (51.57) to break it not only once (in semis, 51.42) but twice, touching in the final heat at 51.03, good for a silver medal.