European Short-Course, Day 6 Finals: Italy Enjoy Gold Rush On Final Evening In Otopeni; GB Top Medal Table

Alberto Razzetti of Italy competes in the 200m Butterfly Men Semifinal during the 20th World Aquatics Championships at the Marine Messe Hall A in Fukuoka (Japan), July 25th, 2023.

Alberto Razzetti: Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

European Short Course, Day 6 Finals: Italy Enjoy Gold Rush On Final Evening In Otopeni; GB Top Medal Table

Italy won six golds on the final night of the European Short-Course Championships in Otopeni.

The highlight of the night – and week – was Daniel Wiffen’s 800 freestyle world record where he took almost three seconds off the longest-standing entry in the books held by Grant Hackett since July 2008.

Read here: Daniel Wiffen Crushes 800 Free S/C World Record

Alberto Razzetti and Benedetta Pilato set championship records in the 400IM and 50m breaststroke respectively while Noe Ponti finished the meet with four medals, adding 100IM silver to his butterfly clean sweep that included a European record over 100m.

Great Britain topped the final medal table at Otopeni 2023 with nine golds, eight silvers and six bronze medals ahead of Italy (seven golds, 12 silvers and three bronzes) and France (seven golds, 10 silvers and six bronze medals).

Men’s 100IM

Bernhard Reitshammer came through on the breaststroke and took the win in 51.39.

Noe Ponti won his fourth medal of the meet with silver in 51.62 with Andreas Vazaios third in 51.91.

Reitshammer said:

“This is great, all worked according to plans.

“Though I was eighth at the 50m turn, I knew I should go as breaststroke is my strongest stroke.

“When I turned on to the free, I looked at the others, and told myself, ‘gosh, this is your chance.’

“Really happy how everything went.”

Ponti added the 100IM silver to his butterfly clean sweep that included a European record of 48.47 over 100m.

He said:

“This is a good way to end the championships, though you can imagine that I’m dead now but happy at the same time.”

Men’s 50m Breaststroke

Nicolo Martinenghi won in 25.56 as he led home teammate Simone Cerasuolo to make it an Italian 1-2 in 25.83.

World record-holder Emre Sakci was third in 25.90.

Martinenghi – winner of Olympic, world and European medals – said:

“First gold for me in 50m in short-course, that’s good.

“It wasn’t my best swim as I made some mistakes, like with the strokes and the turn wasn’t good in particular.

“You know, I won, which is great but for us it’s not all about winning as we are aiming for perfection and
today I was far from it.”

Women’s 200m Freestyle

Barbora Seemanova was 0.58 inside European record pace at the halfway stage but Freya Anderson was tracking her and went ahead at the 175 by 0.05.

Anderson went past the Czechia athlete to win in a 1:52.16 PB ahead of Seemanova (1:52.66) with Freya Colbert making it a British 1-3 in 1:54.07.

Anderson said:

“I’m really happy with the result and to have Freya (Colbert) on the podium as well, really
promising for Great Britain in the freestyle.

“I just had to stick to my race-plan and it paid off.

“When Barbora took that strong start, I just had to stay calm and just stick to what me and my coach (Dave McNulty) went through before the race and just really tried to come home on that last leg.”

Men’s 200m Backstroke

Just 0.12 separated the first three home with Lorenzo Mora getting his hand to the wall first in 1:48.43.

Luke Greenbank took silver in 1:48.53 with long-time leader and 50/100 champion Mewen Tomac third, 0.02 behind in 1:48.55.

Mora said:

“I didn’t see anything, but this race should have been a crazy one to watch.

“I was excited to be part of it, you know, we competed something like 12 times with the French guy this
week so this also made it exciting.

“Having the 200m on the last day is always tough but it was a good swim, the best time for me this week, so I’m happy.”

Olympic and world medallist Greenbank took some time away from the pool having not qualified for the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka.

He spent time doing charity work in Zambia where coach Mel Marshall has been heavily involved in a project for many years while also learning to play the drums.

Now he has returned to the sort of form that has brought him medals at the very, very top.

He said:

“It’s definitely a glass half full. It’s a PB and even if it was close and it might be disappointing to lose on the touch but I see only the positives in this race and take them with me for the long-course season.”

Women’s 400m Freestyle

A thrilling race saw three women go stroke for stroke with Simona Quadarella holding off Kirpichnikova on the final 25 to win in 3:59.50, 0.06 ahead of the Frenchwoman who fell just shy of claiming the double triple in 3:59.56.

Valentine Dumont of Belgium claimed bronze in 4:00.84 as she claimed her first international medal.

Quadarella said:

“Finally I could do it, it was a good race and a gold medal in this championship which did not start that well for me but it ended well, so this is great.”

Kirpichnikova added:

“It was a good race, I felt a bit tired after so many races, I also had the 10km open water in the previous week but I’m really happy with the medal and I’m really happy for Simona.”

Men’s 400IM

The Italian gold rush continued in Otopeni with Alberto Razzetti swimming away from Duncan Scott on the breaststroke leg before coming home in a championship record of 3:57.01.

Scott added silver to his 200IM title in 4:00.17 with Apostolos Papastamos claiming Greece’s second bronze of the night in 4:05.19.

Razzetti’s time cut 0.26 from Laszlo Cseh’s 2009 championship mark of 3:57.27 and was within 0.54 of Ilya Borodin’s European record of 3:56.47.

The Italian said:

“It was a great week with great results.

“I was confident after the 200m fly and 200m IM, and it was a really good race with Duncan next to me.

“I’m really happy with the gold and with the time, this was a fantastic end to this championship.

Scott echoed Razzetti’s sentiments, saying:

“It was a great race with Alberto, he is a world-class swimmer, clocked a great time, almost
European record, new Championship Record for sure.

“I’m mainly doing the 400m here to ease stress after the long-course, in short-course I’m able to swim it.

“I won’t focus on it on long-course, but I want to come here and put myself into a good position.

“I thought I did well in the first 200, then kind of faded off but it is how it is.”

Women’s 50m Breaststroke

Benedetta Pilato led from start to finish to win in a Championship record of 28.86.

Eneli Jefimova added 50 silver to 100 gold in 29.12 with Jasmine Nocentini and Imogen Clark sharing bronze in 29.41 as two Italians made it on to the podium.

Men’s 100m Freestyle

The crowd were chanting David Popovici’s name before the race with the long-course world record-holder seeking his first medal after fourth over 200.

Alessandro Miressi led Maxime Grousset at the 50 and was still ahead by 0.16 at the final turn but the Frenchman came back bit by bit and with a final 25 of 11.95 got the touch in 45.46 to 45.51.

It was third time lucky for Grousset, who said:

“I’m really happy to have a gold after a silver and a bronze.

“For me, this was one of my best 100m finals ever, and it’s great to finish a win finally.”

Popovici won bronze in 46.05 to send the crowd wild, the 19-year-old besieged by children wanting autographs and selfies after leaving the pool.

He said:

“I think I managed to deal with the stress and I am really happy to be one of the three who touched the wall first.”

Women’s 50m Fly

Tessa Giele – out in lane eight – was joint first with Sara Junevik at 25 and the Dutchwoman went on to share gold with Anna Ntountanaki in 25.10.

Junevik of Sweden took bronze in 25.16.

Mixed 4x50m Medley Relay

Italy claimed their sixth gold of the night in 1:36.58 ahead of France (1:37.14) and Netherlands (1:37.86).

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