Italian swimmer Marco Orsi has expanded his range, at least in short course, and broken a pair of Italian Records this week at the GP Italia in Massarosa.
Orsi is primarily a sprint freestyler and a contender for medals in the 50 and 100 in Rio, but this week he showed off his butterfly skills, breaking the National Records in both the 50 meter fly and 100 meter IM events.
First, in the 50 fly, he swam a 23.09 to break Paolo Facchinelli’s 2010 record of 23.25. That swim from Orsi is the 3rd-fastest in the world this year, and the world’s top 5 in this event are now all Europeans.
2015-2016 SCM Men 50 Fly
LE CLOS
22.17
| 2 | Andrii GOVOROV | UKR | 22.36 | 12/05 |
| 3 | Benjamin PROUD | GBR | 22.39 | 12/20 |
| 4 | Nikita KONOVALOV | RUS | 22.54 | 12/05 |
| 5 | Yauhen TSURKIN | BLR | 22.56. | 12/05 |
His previous best time int he 50 fly was a 23.24.
Next up for Orsi’s record-breaking run was the 100 IM, where he swam a 52.15 to break an even older record – Christian Galenda was a 52.29 at the 2008 European Championships. Again showing off his pure speed, Orsi split 23.65 at the halfway mark of that race, just three-tenths off of World Record pace.
That 100 IM is the new fastest time in the world this year.
Lest his fans temper some expectations: neither event is an Olympic event even in long course, and neither time is likely to drive him to venture far outside of his primary races at an international level.
Orsi finished with a 21.35 in the 50 free, which he described as a “good time” and “good effort” for this point of the year. He says that his legs are only at about half-strength after that 50 free effort, and that it was nice to try other races as training.
He maintains, though, that his goal for the upcoming European Championships in Israel is to repeat his 5 medal performance from 2013 in Herning, Denmark – that included three Italian relay medals, and two minor medals in the sprint freestyles.