Disclaimer: BlueSeventy Swim of the Week is not meant to be a conclusive selection of the best overall swim of the week, but rather one Featured Swim to be explored in deeper detail. The BlueSeventy Swim is an opportunity to take a closer look at the context of one of the many fast swims this week, perhaps a swim that slipped through the cracks as others grabbed the headlines, or a race we didn’t get to examine as closely in the flood of weekly meets.
Early April is becoming the perfect storm of national championship meets around the globe. Australia, South Africa, Italy, New Zealand, Ireland, Canada, Sweden, the Netherlands, Japan, China and Russia are all hosting major meets between April 3 and April 13.
And even in that massive crowd of meets, Italy is proving itself a standout. Much of that status comes thanks to a dominant male distance group led by Gabriele Detti.
Detti doubled up at Italian Nationals, winning the 200 and 400 frees in times that led the world ranks as of his swims. A double bronze medalist in Rio, Detti is now proving himself a major threat for this summer’s World Championships.
Detti was 1:46.38 in the 200 free and 3:43.36 in the 400. He’s since been passed up by China’s Sun Yang, but is still inside the top 3 worldwide in both events with about four months to go until the World Championships.
Maybe most interesting is that Detti has Italy contending with the best swimming nations in the world – on the men’s side at least. Compare Italian Nationals to Australia’s national championships meet. Interestingly, the Italian men currently have a faster winning time in 8 of 13 events that both nations have swum. Australia still has one more day of competition to go with three more men’s races. But there’s a good chance that Italy wins 2 of those 3. Gregorio Paltrinieri went 14:37.08 in the 1500 at Italian Nationals, and even though Mack Horton is good, it would be a massive swim for him to beat the defending Olympic champ Paltrinieri’s time. Plus, Australia still has to swim the 50 breast, a national weakness for the Aussies and a strength for Italy. Nicolo Martinenghi‘s winning time was technically 27.09, even though he was 26.97 in semifinals. The difference probably won’t matter, as Italy’s winner was a full second faster in the 100 breast.
Australia will likely have a faster winner in the 50 back with Mitchell Larkin, but that would still leave Italy with a 10-6 edge in winning times.
Winning Times: Italian Championships vs Australian Championships
Men | ||
Italy | Australia | |
22.00 | 50 Free | 21.55 |
48.66 | 100 Free | 47.91 |
1:46.38 | 200 Free | 1:46.83 |
3:43.36 | 400 Free | 3:44.18 |
14:37.08 | 1500 Free | |
25.36 | 50 Back | |
54.14 | 100 Back | 53.54 |
1:56.55 | 200 Back | 1:56.66 |
27.09 | 50 Breast | |
59.46 | 100 Breast | 1:00.45 |
2:09.23 | 200 Breast | 2:09.29 |
23.67 | 50 Fly | 23.70 |
51.92 | 100 Fly | 51.81 |
1:55.40 | 200 Fly | 1:55.70 |
2:00.43 | 200 IM | 1:59.24 |
4:13.52 | 400 IM | 4:18.60 |
8 | Total | 5 |
The really interesting thing about this comparison is how close many of the event winners were. In a hypothetical dual meet between Italy and Australia, we’d be seeing touchout finishes in the 200 free (.5 second margin), 200 back (.1 second margin), 200 breast (.06 second margin), 50 fly (.03 second margin), 100 fly (.1 second margin) and 200 fly (.3 second margin).
WE MAKE SWIMMERS.
There isn’t a second that goes by when the team at blueseventy aren’t thinking about you. How you eat, breathe, train, play, win, lose, suffer and celebrate. How swimming is every part of what makes you tick. Aptly named because 70% of the earth is covered in water, blueseventy is a world leader in the pool and open water. Since 1993, we design, test, refine and craft products using superior materials and revolutionary details that equate to comfort, freedom from restriction and ultimately a competitive advantage in the water. This is where we thrive. There is no substitute and no way around it. We’re all for the swim.
Visit blueseventy.com/pages/swim to learn more.
Instagram: @blueseventy
Twitter: @blueseventy
Facebook: facebook.com/blueseventy
blueseventy is a SwimSwam partner.
This year, male italian swimmer did very well: 4 national record plus two other textile best.
The only race where they did not perform at their best was 100 free where the young star (Miressi more than Vendrame) probably suffer the pressure.
IMHO Detti in Budapest will win the 800. That is the distance where he perfoms at his best.